Diary Of A Young Lycan Girl
by Diva'sDream
Summary: She ran as fast as she could, suddenly hearing shouts and then three or four sets of running footsteps behind her. They were after her! The Death Dealers were gonna try to kill her and her baby! “No! Oh God, please no!”
1. Chpt 1 Prologue

**Diary of a Young Lycan Girl **

**An "Underworld" Fanfiction**

_By: Diva'sDream_

**Chapter 1: Prologue**

"Bloods!"

The cry rang through the empty streets of New York City, like a gunshot in the still, humid summer night. Hmm…you know, it's kind of ironic to have mentioned gunshots just then…because, that's exactly what followed the Lycan man's cry. There came surprised gasps and cries. The others started running for cover, scared and trying desperately to get to safety, and deeply concerned for the safety of the others in their group as well…especially since their was a child in the group…a baby girl.

They all had known it'd been too dangerous to venture outside of their lair like this, without a lot of protection and weapons with them, but they'd needed food. They had nearly run out and were in desperate need of some more, and plus, craved the fresh air, after having been held up in an old, abandoned mansion for two months. They'd been careless on this night, and were now to pay the price for it…for the Death Dealers had found them. And now, they were all left wondering why the hell they hadn't listened to their instincts telling them not to go out in the first place, while at the same time trying their best to escape the Vampires that were now attacking them full-on. In their heads, they knew it would end up being a massacre...that they were all going to die, but they at least had to fight them.

"Alexandra! Take Hope and get out of here, now!" one of the men cried to the Lycan woman we was trying to protect, standing in front of her to defend her from attacks. The woman was carrying with her a small infant, trying her best to shield the baby from what was happening around them. The man looked back quickly, finding the woman still their, hesitant to leave behind her husband, Elijah, being completely terrified that she'd never see him again. "_Go_!"

And with that, the Lycan woman, Alexandra, took off running down the street, her tiny baby wrapped in a blanket and held protectively against her chest. She was so frightened that she was tearing up, but tried as much as she could to hold back the tears. She couldn't get caught, she just couldn't! She had to save her baby…her little Hope. She ran as fast as she could, suddenly hearing shouts and then three or four sets of running footsteps behind her. They were after her! The Death Dealers were gonna try to kill her and her baby! _"No! Oh God, please no!"_

Her breathing became a bit ragged as she continued to run, beginning to lose her breath. But she couldn't stop. She _had_ to get away from them! She _had_ to save her baby! She wasn't about to just _let_ them kill Hope. _"I don't care what happens to me, but I have to save my baby!" _She ran and she ran, and finally turned a sharp corner around the side of a building. Maybe she could shake them enough to get away. No such luck. Alexandria suddenly found herself skidding to a stop, facing a dead-end. She spun around on her heels as quickly as possible. If she was lucky, maybe she could backtrack and keep going in another direction before they got to her.

Again, Alexandra wasn't so fortunate. As soon as she'd turned around, she gasped loudly in surprise. For, when she turned, she found herself facing four guns surrounding her, all pointed at her head. Hope was crying by now, frightened. Alexandria held her daughter close, trying to shield her from the Vampires that she was now facing. They merely glared at her and kept their guns pointed at the both of them, showing absolutely no sympathy or compassion at all for the young mother and child before them. They were going to kill her and Hope and she knew it.

"Please, wait!" she cried out desperately at seeing one of them about to pull the trigger. She'd surely die if she were hit with one of those bullets, as would her baby—that much was certain. They were Silver Nitrate bullets. The Vampires had copied the rounds of Ultraviolet ammunition months ago that the Lycans had created. To her great relief, however, the Vampire didn't fire.

"What!" he growled at her instead, waiting impatiently to see what small plea she could offer to try and save her and her baby's own pitiful lives. They kept the guns all still pointed at her, however, not trusting enough of her to lower their weapons. For all they knew, she might run off if they gave her half the chance. And they just couldn't allow that. She was a Lycan, and they weren't going to let her and the pup escape.

Alexandra held the screaming baby close, shielding her as she stood their, trembling under the gaze of the four Vampires. She looked around briefly at the Vampires holding guns to her head. She knew that her pleas would probably fall on deaf ears, but she just had to try something. She couldn't let Hope die. She wouldn't. "Please!" she said, her voice full of pain and sadness. "Not my baby. She's merely an infant. Please, don't kill her."

"She's still filthy Lycan trash, nonetheless. Give us one good reason why she shouldn't parish along with the rest of your pathetic little race of rabid, stupid dogs." The man's eyes were cold, cruel as they stared down the young woman with the infant child. Alexandria had to try hard to keep her temper in check with how he was now insulting her kind—insulting her child, her little baby girl.

"Because she has done nothing wrong—she's a baby!"

"But she will! All of you trash do at some point in your lives."

"Everyone makes at least one mistake in their lives—Lycan or not! You can't kill someone as an infant simply on that note due to a prejudgment such as that!"

There was a very long pause as the four Vampires stood glaring at the woman and child before them—filthy little creatures in their eyes. They seemed to actually be thinking about the request, and about what she'd said in argument to the man. After what seemed an eternity to Alexandra, though in reality was only about a minute, one of them stepped forward and spoke. She was obviously the one in command of the four that'd gone after the Lycans. "Alright, Lycan. We shall honor your request and spare the child," she said coldly, no emotion save for spite in her voice. Hope's mother let out a relieved breath as the Vampires' guns were lowered. Maybe they'd get out of this alive after all.

Gently, Alexandra cradled her little one caringly against herself, rocking her softly to try and comfort the still crying infant. "Thank you. Thank you so very much," she said, her voice shaking a bit with sudden joy, a small smile playing on her pretty young face. Her little Hope would be just fine…and they'd be alright. Elijah would be so happy to see that they were alright when they got back to him. Although, she couldn't help but think that something still didn't seem right. She hadn't even seen it coming, not expecting what happened next at all.

"Take the child from her," the Vampire woman ordered all of a sudden, her tone even and emotionless, even as she commanded such a terrible thing.

Alexandria's gaze shot up from her child's face as she heard this, shocked and completely horrified now, the smile gone—replaced with a look of pure terror. "No…" she said softly in disbelief, slowly backing away from the three Vampires now coming towards her. She held Hope tightly to her chest, the child now screaming in fear. Oh God, no—this just couldn't be happening to them. "No!"

She tried her best to put distance between them, and the baby and her, but to no avail. Within seconds, the two men in the group were at her sides, restraining her arms while the other woman in the group ripped a screaming Hope from her arms and the first woman—the leader or the group—pointed a gun once more at her head, all while Alexandra struggled madly to get them away from these monsters, trying desperately to get to her daughter as they took Hope from her. "Hope!" she cried, now kneeling at the Vampires' feet as the two men held her down in place by her arms, forcing her to stay on her knees. "No! Please, not my baby! Don't take my little Hope from me! Please, leave us be! No! _Hope!_"

The gunshot that followed rang loudly through the streets of New York City, instantly catching the attention of Elijah, the only Lycan in the group left still alive, and the father of the baby whose mother had just been killed. _"Oh my God… Alexandra… Hope… No!"_ he thought to himself as he stared in shock down the street that his wife and daughter had just gone down to try and escape the Death Dealers. He was in complete disbelief. How could they be dead? He'd just seen them a few moments ago!

He'd become distracted by the sound, and the thought of what he knew had just happened to Alexandra and Hope. Unfortunately, this was just long enough for a Death Dealer to sentence Elijah to the same fate of his wife, the Silver Nitrate in the bullet going straight to his bloodstream, killing him almost instantly…leaving young Hope orphaned and at the mercy of the Vampires who had just destroyed her entire world…

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**Disclaimer:** As you pretty much guessed I was going to say, no, I don't own the movie "Underworld". I wish I did, but I don't. The only thing that is mine is the characters in this fanfiction, save for any of the ones I may or may not mention in the story from the movie, like Lucian or Viktor or someone like that.

**A/N:** Well, there's the prologue. Please be kind—this is my first "Underworld" fanfiction. I hope you like it. The idea just came to me as I was watching it with a friend one day. I saw the subway scene at the beginning and got the idea. And some of the characters, the setting, and things like that are from an RPG I'm in for "Underworld". If you like it, then I'll continue the story soon. Please R&R! Constructive criticism is welcome, but no flames please. I did the best I could and this is my first time doing an "Underworld" story. It'll probably end up in the end with an "M" rating, but I'm not sure. It may or may not, depending on what I decide to do with it. But for now, I think I can keep it at "T". Thanks so much for reading. See ya all later! (Smiles and waves goodbye to readers)


	2. Chpt 2 Mistress Servina Karavalis

**Chapter 2: Mistress Servina Karavalis**

The soft breeze blew through Hope's long, slightly messy, beautiful light brown hair gently as she sat on the ledge of the rooftop, overlooking the city below her, which was shrouded in darkness. Everything was covered in night, save for the soft glow of the moonlight which washed over everything it could reach. Though despite all the shadows, Hope could see perfectly for miles over the other rooftops, gazing silently and calmly into the night—one of the definite advantages of being a Lycan, and in her opinion, one of Hope's favorites of all her special abilities. She sighed happily, daydreaming as she stared at the beautiful scenery before her, all the lights of the city making it look sort of like a night's sky all its own.

The sixteen-year-old gazed longingly at the breathtaking landscape surrounding her. How she wished she could live amongst all of that, instead of her current residence. She'd give almost anything to know what it felt like—to be free. But, unfortunately, she didn't. All she'd ever known her entire life was the life she lived amongst the Vampires she served. And amongst the other Lycan slaves she lived with in their dark, dank slaves' quarters, while the Vampires lived a life of luxury in a huge mansion just a short distance away. Hope would give anything to know any other life besides one of fear and sorrow, but that dream just never seemed to come.

She was completely lost in thought now, dreaming of that life to which she wished for so much, scanning the scenery with beautiful, expressive, and soft crystal blue eyes. She held the charm of the necklace around her neck lovingly, it being the only hint to the past she'd long forgotten from before this life of slavery that she knew. All she knew about it is that it was a gift from her parents. It was a pretty small charm, but not too small. It was of a golden horse, and right above the charm in gold was her name, her birth stone inside the circle that the "o" in "Hope" made—a beautiful amber-colored Topaz stone. This name was made in very fancy cursive lettering, with little flowers and things around the letters. And, engraved in a very fine cursive font on the body of the horse charm, was the letter "A". Hope could only guess that the letter stood for her last name, which she doesn't know.

She was so enwrapped in her little reverie that she hadn't even noticed it when the sun set, giving way to the unforgiving darkness of night. She was too busy wondering what it was like, what all she could do…and then she happened to look up at the sky. She stared at the moon and stars for a long while, completely entranced by them. She loved the night sky so. It was almost mesmerizing to the girl. It then took but a moment or so before realization hit her—like a ton of bricks, smashing her happy daydreaming.

She gasped loudly, almost falling off the ledge in her surprise. Hope steadied herself and then swung her leg over to the floor of the rooftop, which had been tangling over the ledge, and quickly sprang to her feet, her eyes wide with fear and shock. "Oh God!" she breathed softly, almost in disbelief. After a few seconds of freezing in place in shock, Hope suddenly took off running full speed, putting up the hood of her cloak quickly as she went along, as well as placing her necklace where she usually hid it, underneath her clothes so no one would ever know it was there—which no one did; no one knew of her necklace, which she kept hidden from everyone else for fear of it getting taken away from her by a one of the Vampire overlords.

Hope ran as fast as her legs would carry her, jumping down onto a couple of fire escapes on the side of the building so as to quickly climb down to the sidewalk far below safely. Then, she took off running at full speed down the road. She _had_ to get back to the mansion, _now_! The headmistress of the Vampire coven she served was going to be _furious _with her for sneaking out into the city again! She'd surely _kill_ her for it this time! Especially since Hope had already been warned quite a few times to never do it again…

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Hidden deep in the dense woods of a mountain in the countryside of New York, the Draconis Mansion stood ominously in a large clearing in the mountain, closed in on all sides by an uninviting gate, blocking the massive, secretive building off from all unwelcome intruders. Inside this mansion, the Vampires of the Coven Draconis reside, enjoying all of the fine advantages in life that being Vampires, a dominant species to the Lycans in their opinions, and a lot more high class than the other species seemed to be, provided for them and their contentment.

The Vampires in this particular coven had just woken up a little while ago. The mansion was still pretty quiet, but everyone pretty much knew that it wouldn't be long before the entire building was alive again with Vampires—socializing and having a pretty good time, all while being practically waited on hand-and-foot by their slaves, the Lycan slaves of the Coven Draconis, whom all resided just a little ways away in their quarters and come to the mansion by night to serve.

No one was yet in the entrance foyer when the door quietly began to creak open slowly, or so it was thought by the one on the other side of the door. Very slowly and silently, Hope crept inside and shut the door as gently as she could, turning towards it with her back to the room as she did so, all the while surveying the room closely and listening as best she could for any indication of someone coming. She heard and saw nothing of the sort, and didn't smell any Vampire's scent as of then either. So, as the door closed fully, she sighed a relieved sigh and began to relax. Maybe she'd gotten away with it this time? It's just too bad that this reassuring wave of relief didn't last very long…

Hope had absolutely no time to react. And she'd barely even caught a whiff of the Vampire's scent before being turned roughly around by her arm and slammed against the door as she emitted a loud gasp of surprise and sudden fear, finding herself looking directly into the cold, merciless, fuming mad eyes of the Coven Mistress herself—Servina Karavalis. Hope's eyes widened in terror as she found herself looking at her, the small girl's already pale skin instantly being drained of any color she had left in her out of fear. "Mistress Servina!" she breathed in an alarmed voice that only came out as merely a quivering, terrified whisper, her heart racing by then, as well as her breathing.

Before she knew what'd hit her, Hope was on the ground, the side of her face in searing pain. She winced, covering her left cheek with her hand, whimpering. She knew exactly what'd happened. The Mistress had taken off one of her long blue gloves faster than Hope's eyes could catch the movement and had slapped her hard across the face, making sure her nails scratched deep into the young girl's skin as she did so. On the Mistress's nails was pure silver nail polish, so of course, it burnt like hell for a Lycan such as Hope to come in physical contact with them.

What she'd done had become apparent when the girl took her hand away for a moment and looked at it, only to find blood covering her fingers, then replaced her hand on her cheek and looked up at Servina fearfully, only to find her pulling her glove back on, and then glaring down at the young Lycan girl on the ground in front of her in disgust. She was obviously very upset with Hope at the moment—although, that may be an understatement. "Where the hell were you, Lycan?" the Mistress began her interrogation in a calm, yet strong and commanding voice filled with authority, definitely used at the moment, as always, to assure Hope of who the person in charge around there was. How the woman always managed to stay so calm, even when so angry, Hope had no idea. All she knew was that, a lot of the time, she'd actually would've preferred hearing her yell, for the way she did handle things so calmly was often much more chilling than if she'd simply blown up in the girl's face.

Hope, trembling under the towering, ominous form of the Coven Mistress and drowned within the woman's looming shadow, was barely able to answer. At first, she didn't have the ability to reply at all, being completely frozen in fear, her eyes stinging with the tears that refused to show themselves completely. She did her best not to cry, and it worked for the time being. It wouldn't do anything to harm or help her either way. Servina wouldn't care whether she shed tears or not. But, she'd gotten better at containing her tears. Besides, they helped in these situations, or so she thought. She bottled up that fear, that sadness, and she had a better chance of being completely numb to punishment, or at least to some degree. In reality, this hurt her even worse than if she just opened herself up to feeling everything, but she just couldn't see that.

Servina stood there silently, awaiting whatever pathetic excuse Hope could offer her. Hope was actually a bit relieved that Servina was deciding to be patient with her tonight. After getting over the initial shock, the girl opened her mouth to speak, trying her best to get the words to form. "I…I…" she stuttered, shaking and on the verge of tears, which she still refused to let show. What could she say to this woman? Servina was a bit scatter-brained sometimes, but she generally knew a lie when she heard one. Especially coming from Hope, whom she's known and had to deal with for about fourteen-and-a-half years now. She knew all of the girl's expressions and usual reactions by then. So, could Hope really lie to the Coven Mistress and get away with it? She didn't think so. Besides, since Servina would know if she lied, it'd only make it worse if she did. Servina might go easy on her if she just admitted it straight away. Maybe the Vampire would reward Hope's honesty with at least a little mercy.

Hope sat there for another moment, kneeling now at Servina's feet, a little bit of blood still coming from the scratches on her cheek, even though they'd already begun to heal themselves. She was, in truth, debating about whether to lie or to tell the truth. And then, making her decision, she prepared herself for whatever Servina's reaction was going to be and opened her mouth again to speak. "Wait," Servina interrupted her before she could speak with a chilling laugh. "Allow me to save you the trouble of lying to me, only to ultimately be punished worse than I might give you initially. Or, if you decided that you were going to be a good girl just now and tell me the truth, the humiliation of having to admit to me that you've disobeyed me again."

At hearing this, Hope closed her mouth and lowered her head in respect for the Vampire and shame of being caught, locking her gaze on the floor as she knelt respectfully before the Coven Mistress. Although Servina was apparently not going to make her admit what she'd done, Hope was embarrassed with the way she was being spoken to, with being scolded the way she was. Her cheeks burned red with the humiliation as she waited for Servina to continue.

Servina noticed her reaction and smiled a bit, knowing she had the girl defeated and had reestablished her authority over the slave. Satisfied, she went on, folding her arms indignantly across her chest. "You disobeyed my direct orders, even though you knew I wouldn't be happy with you at all if I found out, snuck out again, and were just now coming back from the city, were you not, Hope?" Her voice was still eerily calm, sending another chilling wave of fear up and down the girl's spine.

"Um…uh…well…I…" Hope stuttered as she kneeled there trembling, unable to find the right words to say. What _could _she say in this situation? What could she _possibly _say to the Coven Mistress after being caught doing what was forbidden to her? And what could she say at the moment, now that she was too terrified to even move. She was way too frightened to look at Servina, to stand up, to speak. This was one of those moments where she'd rather be anywhere else but right there.

"Yes?"

Hope absolutely hated the way her voice sounded at the moment—that completely calm tone that still found a way to freeze you right down to your core. Hope took in a deep breath, knowing only one reply to give Servina. "Y-yes, Mistress Servina. You're right… I did…disobey you and sneak out again…" she said slowly, in a hushed and defeated tone, trying to submit to Servina as much as she could in order to avoid any more punishment than the wound she'd already sustained from the slap. She bowed her head slightly lower as she admitted this as well, a sort of subtle way of begging the Mistress not to hurt her anymore.

Servina smiled cruelly at the confession, knowing that she would confess. She'd fully expected the Lycan girl to give up and not try to worm her way out of this at all. Hope had become so predictable to her by then. "Just as I'd thought…" she said, still keeping that chilling, yet completely calm tone of voice.

"Mistress, please," Hope said, all the while keeping her head bowed low. "Please, accept my sincerest apologies. I didn't mean to anger you, Mistress; I swear it. I meant no disrespect." It was a small attempt at saving herself from more punishment, and she hoped it'd work. Maybe, if she apologized for her actions, Mistress Servina would be merciful. She was still shaking, afraid, but she was calm for the most part now, prepared to handle anything Servina threw at her, if that's what she decided to do.

Another cruel laugh could be heard from the Coven Mistress at hearing this apology. She shook her head slightly, eyeing Hope with a small hint of a glare visible on her mostly calm face. "No, Hope. I do _not _forgive you yet. If I remember correctly, I've warned you several times not to disobey me like this, and yet you still do. Am I correct, Hope, or do you disagree?"

"No, Mistress. You are correct…" Hope said slowly and quietly, her eyes closed now as she continued to kneel, her head hanging, a bit saddened by the reaction she'd gotten in return for her begging. It had been worth a try, but she hadn't exactly expected that to work. It barely ever did. Her fear had also grown a bit. She knew this part of the confrontation. She knew what was coming next. Servina may have been calm up until now, but that wasn't going to last much longer. Hope knew she was about to get yelled at. She'd seen this far too many times before not to know.

"Oh? So you admit that you've at least heard my warnings, and yet you still disregard them and defy me then," she said, her tone growing just slightly as she said this. She sounded a bit more confident, knowing she had the girl right where she wanted her now. Hope wasn't going to get away without a scolding this time, though in the past she'd managed to sneak back in and get away with it a time or two, even when Servina or another Vampire knew about it. "Alright then. In that case, why, then, do you still insist on doing what you know is forbidden?"

Hope's eyes widened a bit in fear at this. She really couldn't think of a reply for that. "I…I…" she stuttered a bit, trying to find one, but was unable to. "I…don't know…Mistress Servina…" She trailed off there a bit, lowering her head just the slightest bit more. "I guess I…just wanted to see the city again so much…that I…" The girl trailed off there again, unable to continue because of her nervousness.

"You wanted to see it so much that you blatantly disregarded my commands, even though you clearly knew better. You just didn't care at the moment of the consequences of your actions," Servina finished for her, raising an eyebrow at her attempts at an excuse and actually looking a tad amused by the effort. Hope's bow lowered only slightly, knowing she'd been completely caught now and put on the spot. She was now only a few inches from the ground, her bow being that low. Hopefully, the Mistress would see this as a complete show of respect and a sincere apology. Plus, at least Hope was so low now that Servina couldn't claw her again from down there.

Servina, whose smile had faded, glared at the pathetic creature on the ground at her feet for a moment, the smile returning just the slightest bit. She loved it when the girl tried the weasel her way out of punishment like this. The Coven Mistress found her efforts amusing, as well as finding it very entertaining to bring the girl's hopes crashing down around her as any mercy for the young Lycan was completely denied. "Please, Mistress…" Hope tried again, but Servina interrupted her sharply.

"No, Hope!" she said harshly, her voice loud and commanding, sending another wave of fear through the young girl's body. Hope instantly found herself trying to fend off tears again as she kept her posture on the ground, now trembling at the Vampire's feet. "Do not even _try _to beg for my forgiveness. You know what my answer will be. I already told you no! Do _not _make me say it again!" She paused then, now glaring down at Hope mercilessly. "Now then," she continued then. "Alright, here's the deal. Luckily for you, young lady, you've caught me in a good mood. Therefore, I will not punish you anymore than I already have. Consider yourself very fortunate, girl!" She paused again, checking the slave's reaction before going on. "However," she said as a word of warning to Hope. "I'd better _never _catch you pulling this little stunt again, or disobeying me like this in any way! Or else, believe me, Lycan—you _will _feel a silver whip on your back very soon afterward! You _will _be _severely_ punished if I _ever_ find that you've been disrespecting me like this again! Am I understood!"

Hope jumped at this last part, it being a loud yell that practically scared the hell out of her. Not once moving from her submissive position, she said, "Yes, Mistress Servina," like the good little slave girl that Servina wanted her to be and had successfully turned her into. Her voice was soft and docile, coming out at the moment as nothing more than a shaky, terrified half-whisper. Her entire body trembled greatly with her fear. Any Lycan within a very good distance could probably clearly smell her fear by then. Every Lycan in the entire mansion could probably smell the stench of fear throughout the building. Hope was hardly able to contain her emotions by then, but somehow managed still to keep herself from releasing the tears welling in her eyes.

"Good." She could hear the Coven Mistress's voice above her, but still dared not look up. Servina paused for another moment and stared at her. Every reaction Hope had given had been exactly what she'd wanted from her. The Vampire was satisfied…for now. "Now then, Hope, get out of my sight this instant, you rabid little puppy, and be extremely grateful that I'm not going to punish you severely for this!"

At hearing the command, Hope reacted almost instantly. "Yes, Mistress Servina," she said, standing up quickly. Keeping her head lowered in respect, she quickly bowed to the Mistress, who still stood rigid, her arms folded across her chest as she glared at the young slave she'd just finished scolding as if Hope were a little misbehaving child.

"Now!" Servina yelled, moving instantly. She sharply brought her hand back, threatening to backhand hope across the face hard if the girl didn't comply soon enough. It wasn't a bluff either, and Hope knew that. Servina would definitely hit her if she didn't get of there now. With a small gasp of fear at seeing the Mistress's hand go flying back like that, the girl turned quickly and ran from the room, her fear obvious. Servina watched her leave, a stern glare playing on her features. Then, she simply turned and left, going to attend business she had elsewhere.

In the hallway outside the room, Hope stood against the wall, almost hyperventilating because she was so scared. She closed her eyes tight, trying her best to calm down. It could've been much worse and she knew it. Despite being so shaken, she was extremely relieved. Servina had had mercy on the girl and had let her get away with what she'd done…for now. Of course, there was that doubt in the back of her mind; that fear that Servina would go back on her word at any time and decide to have Hope whipped for this, but she tried her best to push that thought from her mind. She had to calm down. She had chores to do. Reminding herself of this, she paused and tried to relax. After several minutes and having successfully managed to calm her nerves for the most part, Hope opened her eyes and took in a deep breath. Then, she pushed herself up from against the wall and slowly made her way to begin her day of serving the Vampire overlords that kept her captive in that hellhole they called the Draconis Mansion.

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**A/N:** Well, here's chapter 2 for you. Sorry it took so long. I was having some technical difficulties with it. I hope you like this story so far. I'm not sure exactly where I'm going with this story yet, although I did receive some excellent ideas for it, thanks to my last reviewers, so I'm going to use those. Thank you very much and please R&R this chapter. I worked really hard on it. No flames please—this is my first "Underworld" fanfic, and I'm trying my best at it. Constructive criticism is welcome. And I just wanted to give credit to the "Dark Underground" RPG, from which I'm getting most of my characters, save for Alexandra, Elijah, and Hope so far. This RPG is also where I got the setting from, and possibly some references for some events that may or may not be mentioned later on in the story, which happened in the RPG. I'm not sure whether I'll refer to these stories at all though or not. Draconis Mansion, the Coven Draconis, and all the like are all from this wonderful RPG. And thanks to my friend Meagan Reid for letting me use her character, Servina Karavalis, for my story. You're the best, Meagan! Well, I'll continue soon. Please tell me what you think of the story so far. See ya next time!


	3. Chpt 3 Friends and Enemies

**Chapter 3: Friends and Enemies**

"Ugh…_this_ is gonna take a while," Hope sighed, rolling her eyes. She, unfortunately, had been given the task of cleaning the entire ballroom. Typical… Servina always told her to do that when she was pissed off at her. She knew that Hope hated this chore, and for the most part only gave it to her to drive her insane, sort of a payback for her causing trouble. Of course, it only made Hope very mad and caused her to instigate even more trouble, but you know what they say. _"Revenge may be sweet, but payback's one nasty, evil little bitch!"_ Plus…Servina found it amusing anyway. With another sigh, she began her task, knowing it'd take her a good half-hour or so.

"What'd you do—sneak out again?" a voice from behind her suddenly resounded in the large room. Smiling slightly and lifting her eyes from her task, Hope paused for a moment, then stood straight and her eyes shone a bit as she turned around, finding a friend of hers there. A girl of about eighteen stood in the doorway, leaning against the post, her arms crossed over her chest. She smiled over at Hope a bit mischievously, playing with her long, thigh-length black hair with royal blue tips, which she currently had pulled back into a long, neat single braid. Her crystal-blue eyes with the violet rims around the irises sparkled brightly as she did so.

Yes, it was a very odd look, but her eyes were all natural. Believe it or not, that was her natural eye color. Her hair was dyed, though. It used to be a very nice reddish-light brown color, but her parents had let her dye it as soon as she'd turned thirteen. That was before she became a slave, though, when her family was still alive—only two years before Death Dealers came and killed her clan and took her to be a slave, as well as all the other Lycans in her clan under the age of eighteen. Well…that's what you get from growing up in a clan of rebel Lycans, perhaps. You're always in that constant danger. That's probably why Hope and she got along so well from the moment they met, about six years ago—they both have similar stories. Although, the other girl had had it a bit worse before all of this happened than Hope had. Of course, the age difference for when they both went into slavery might've been to blame a little bit there.

"Anora Evelyn Daniels, the enemy of the Draconis Mansion Vampire Coven," she said teasingly, then emitted a small chuckle as she walked over to her, leaning the broom against the wall for the time being. The two friends gave each other a hug and then they got out of the doorway, incase any others happened to walk in. "What brings you to this room, huh? Was the opportunity to bug me just too much to resist?" Both girls laughed at this. They were used to teasing each other like that. These two girls were definitely best friends. That much was pretty obvious.

"Exactly!"

Hope emitted a fake gasp and looked at Anora in mock surprise. "You bitch!" She threw a little cloth at her for fun. Anora caught it, of course, before it hit her, and then tossed it back to Hope. And with that, more laughter erupted throughout the room, both girls doubled over as they laughed. This was definitely a typical moment around these two. Hope hadn't meant that as an insult at all, and Anora knew that.

Suddenly the sound of someone else's laughter joined the other two's. Anora and Hope both stopped laughing abruptly in surprise with startled gasps, turning instantly to see who it was. Their eyes had gone wide, and they looked a bit like deer caught in headlights. They both thought that they'd been caught by one of the masters, which would've been a nightmare for them. They were playing around, not working, so they could _easily_ be punished if they were caught in there like that. Something like that could've _easily _meant a good whipping for the both of them. Hope and Anora both held their breaths with frightened anticipation as they looked towards the door.

A sigh of relief then came from both of the girls as they recognized the one in front of them. "Oh my gosh, Exondria! You scared the crap outta us! Would you _please _quit sneaking up on us like that, for goodness' sake!" Anora exclaimed, trying to keep her voiced hushed so no one would hear her talking to a Vampire like that. If anyone, especially any Vampire, ever heard her addressing a Vampire—and her own _mistress_, on top of that—so informally, like they were equals, who knows what could've happened to Anora. She'd receive a severe beating; that much is for certain. And also, it'd be way too much of a risk for Exondria. They couldn't have anyone else besides those three finding out that the young, sixteen-year-old Vampire girl was actually a Lycan sympathizer.

Exondria, her long blue hair swaying behind her as she moved, walked into the room, smiling and trying to stifle her laughter at their reactions. "Sorry, sorry," she said a bit sarcastically. She chuckled a bit, helping Hope to her feet, since the girl had fallen on the ground when they'd been startled by accident. She looked at the brunette as the girl dusted herself off a bit and smiled, her smile a bit mischievous. "Snuck out again?" she then asked her, and then began laughing, as did Anora. Hope made a small face, but then joined in on their laughter after a few seconds.

What? Did _everyone_ automatically assume that she'd snuck out if she just so _happened_ to be sweeping up the floor in the ballroom! She wouldn't doubt it, actually, because it was basically the truth. Even _she_ couldn't deny that. "It's _that_ obvious?" she asked as she laughed.

"Only when we can hear Servina's ranting throughout the entire mansion!" the Vampire girl exclaimed. All three of them laughed at this. Hey, it was true, and everyone knew it. When Servina was angry at Hope, everyone within the building could here her yelling, and so everyone always knew when the girl had gotten herself into trouble again. And several of the Vampires in Draconis just _loved_ taking those opportunities to bother the mansion's most difficult, uncontainable slave. That's the only thing Hope hated more than actually having to clean the entire ballroom—being bothered by the Vampires _as _she cleaned the entire ballroom. It drove her insane, irritating her to no end. But, she's had to deal with it so much; that Hope has actually gotten to a point where she barely reacts at all to their taunting. She merely sighs inwardly, rolls her eyes, and continues with her work. No cutting remarks from her acid tongue are involved. No physical contact or eye contact was enacted upon. That kind of thing is saved for when someone actually does something to provoke her. In those instances, the person she directed those actions towards usually ended up with some kind of mark to show for it.

After she stopped laughing, Hope finally said, "Hey, is it my fault she's got such a big mouth?" And they laughed again a bit.

"Well, no, I guess she'll just have to stick to that being her own damn fault," Anora joked with a smile. The girls giggled a bit more. "So, what brings you here at the moment, Exondria?" Anora finally asked.

"Oh nothing. I just heard the yelling and figured you two would be in here," came Exondria's reply. She smiled at the two, who both smiled back, and then looked at Hope. "So, how did it look out there?" she asked her, curious to know how her experience outside of the mansion was this time. She always did this. Exondria always loved hearing how Hope's small tastes of freedom were, especially since, most of the time, it was during the day or at sunset, and Exondria had always longed to see the sun again.

Hope smiled, completely anticipating Exondria's usual question. "Nothing really special," she said. "All I did was take a walk in the city and then sit on a rooftop to watch the sunset. It was absolutely beautiful this evening, you guys. Although, as you can see, I kinda…lost track of the time."

And with that, Hope suddenly shot Anora a look and stuck her tongue out at the other girl, having heard a small, smart-assed, "Well that's obvious," coming from the other girl and then a small giggle. Exondria smiled at the antic and then laughed a bit, secretly admiring the two slaves for their ability to have such light-hearted spirits, despite the bleak lives that fate had dealt them. Exondria had always felt that way about them. She was often amazed at just how normal these two were, despite being mere slaves. Somehow, they'd managed to keep themselves mentally stable—well…for the most part, in Anora's case—in such a miserable environment as the one they all lived in. sometimes, how they nearly always managed this was simply remarkable to Exondria.

"Well, you still have to admit, it could've been much worse than what you got. I mean, this is, what? The third time this month you've been caught sneaking out?" Exondria said then, taking on a more serious note, though the smile remained slightly. She had a good point. Servina had only sentenced her to cleaning the ballroom this time. She must've been in a charitable mood. She could very well have had the girl whipped severely for disobeying orders again. Hope had gotten lucky, and she knew it.

"Yeah, third. And I know, I got lucky this time around. Kurati must've made her _really_ happy again this evening," Hope then teased in a mocking lovey-dovey voice. They all knew about Servina's lover. She was cheating on her husband, who slept, awaiting his turn to take over the mansion and have Servina sleep, and _everyone_ knew it. Most just either ignored it, just didn't say anything about it, or they just didn't care either way. All three girls laughed at this joke, and the other two girls easily agreed with her. Knowing Servina, it was probably true. No wonder why pretty much _all_ of the slaves, and not to mention even a few of the Vampires, thought she was a slut.

A voice was then heard from another room, calling for one of them. "Exondria, can you come here for a while? I've got something I wanna show you!"

"Whoops, gotta go! That's Jessie," Exondria said, having heard her friend's call. She headed for the door. "See ya later, girls." Exondria stepped into the doorway and then looked back. "Oh, and Hope? Try to stay out of trouble, will ya?" And then, with a small wave, a wink, and a nice smile, she left. The other two girls returned her wave and her smiles, saying their goodbyes to her as well as she left. Then, they turned back to the room and looked around a bit.

"You're gonna be here all night, aren't you?"

Hope looked over at Anora, her expression looking not too thrilled, as did her friend's. "Looks like it…" With an exasperated sigh, she went to pick the broom back up. She looked around the room, thinking about how much she hated this job.

"Need any help? Ya know, Servina never said you had to clean the entire ballroom by yourself." Hope looked at Anora and smiled brightly. Her friend had a good point, even though Servina had probably intended it to be that way, with Hope cleaning all by herself. She never actually _said _it, so how was Hope and everyone else supposed to know what? She just loved the way Anora thought sometimes.

Hope nodded. "Thanks," she said, and with that, both girls began to clean the entire room. Hope resumed sweeping, and Anora began with the windows. As they cleaned, they also talked, being careful enough to quiet down should anyone come in. They were mostly joking around as well, and laughing, as girls of their age who were best friends normally should. However, after a while of this joking around and having fun—in a way—they'd forgotten all about being careful. True, they kept their voices low enough, but sometimes even that isn't enough, you know.

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"Yeah, and Servina's reaction around him in always really interesting to see," Anora laughed, looking up and smiling at Hope. Hope returned the smile with one of her own, accompanied by a small chuckle, and then returned to what she was doing. They'd been cleaning the room for a good half an hour, and both girls were now working on cleaning off the massive table.

"Tell me about it," Hope said, putting the wash cloth down for a moment and looking at Anora. Anora stopped washing the table for a while and looked at Hope with another smile, knowing exactly where she was going with this. "She's all, 'Oh Kurati, dear, I love you so!''" Hope then mimicked Servina in a high-pitched, overly-sarcastic voice, making dramatic movements with her hands and rolling her eyes mockingly. She then fake-kissed the air, mocking how Servina was always so—how should this be put?—cozy…with Kurati. Both girls laughed at her impression. They both had to admit, it sounded just like Servina when she was with him.

"I know," Anora added, laughing a bit. "And to think, the slut is _married_, for goodness' sake!" Both girls giggled a bit. "I mean, just think of what that husband of hers is gonna think if he finds out about all this. Which, ya know he probably will. I mean, she has to use her blood to awaken him, and use her memories. There is absolutely _no_ way she can keep that thought from him, is there? And even if so, he's not stupid, from what I've heard. He'll figure it out pretty quickly. It doesn't take a total genius to sniff out a complete cheating whore in a mansion full of Vampires, does it? Well…then again, these _are_ Vampires we're talking about. What're the chances of there only being one cheating whore around here? You know how they are."

Hope nodded in agreement. Anora was right; as soon as Servina's husband, Draven Karavalis is awakened, Servina would no doubt be seriously in over her head with all of this. She was going down when he woke up; the girls were sure of it, as was practically everyone else around. Until then, all they had to do was just wait for it. Although, it wasn't completely positive whether this would be a good thing or a bad thing for the slaves. Yes, while they wouldn't have to deal with Servina blowing her top every chance she got, Draven was also known for being even _worse _than Servina with the Lycan slaves—even more hard, ruthless, and cruel. Was this really a good thing that soon they'd be stuck with him instead of Servina? Well, they'd all find out soon enough.

Both girls continued to laugh as they worked, making fun of Servina and some of the other Vampires occasionally, seemingly having fun. Little did they know of how much of a mistake they were making in doing so. Unbeknownst to them, someone else heard all of what they were saying about the Vampires of Draconis. And the only indication of this was in the malevolently shining pair of emerald green eyes watching them from the doorway to the room, the rest of the body hidden in almost completely shadows. The one watching them smiled cruelly, her eyes narrowing at the two slaves in the room. Oh, was Servina ever going to be furious when she heard about this or what? These two girls were _definitely _in for a beating. _"Oh, you two are as good as dead…"_

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**A/N:** Well, there you have it—Chapter 3. Again, sorry it took so long. Writers block sucks! Hope ya like this story, guys. Please R&R! Again, constructive criticism is welcome, but please no flames, since I'm still knew to writing "Underworld" fanfics. And again, I give lots of credit to the "Dark Underground" RPG, which is where a lot of the characters, the setting, and some of the events in the storyline come from. And again, thanks to my friend Meagan Reid for letting me use her character, Servina Karavalis, for my story. As well as my friend Charles Owens for his character, Kurati. And even our very own "Lady of Life and Death", for the use of her character, Exondria. You guys are the best! I'll continue with this story as soon as I can, as it seems a couple people are really enjoying it. Your thoughts on the story are greatly appreciated! Bye!


	4. Chpt 4 What’re Friends For?

**Chapter 4: What're Friends For?**

_It took hours, but the two Lycan girls finally succeeded in making the ballroom spotless. Looking around at realizing that they were done and that all of their hard work in there had paid off, Hope and Anora were absolutely exhausted. They looked around the room with tired expressions on their faces, then turned to each other and smiled a bit. _

_They gave each other a high five, quietly celebrating their accomplishment of the day. "Alright! We're done!" Hope said triumphantly, raising her hands into the air happily._

_Anora nodded her head with a smile and a small laugh. "Finally!" she cheerfully added. Both girls stood up and took one more look around the room, satisfied with what they saw, to be perfectly honest. "Looks like we're through here. Let's get outta here, Hope. I can't stand this room."_

"_Yeah, I hate being in this room for more time than I absolutely have to," the blue-eyed brunette was all too eager to agree with Anora. And so, both girls turned and left the room. They kept their voices low, should any they come across any of the Vampires that lived in the mansion, which they most likely would, but still chatted happily amongst themselves. They laughed and joked, walking side by side to go to their rooms for a bit to rest before they were called upon by one of the masters to do anything else._

_They'd almost made it, too—out of the mansion and to the Lycans' Quarters, located in a corner of the Draconis grounds outside, a large, yet cramped old rundown building separate from the mansion. They almost made it, but not quite. They made it to the large entrance foyer of the mansion, where Hope had entered from before, and that was as far as they got. As soon as they got into the foyer, the first person they saw as they looked towards the door was Servina, standing in front of it with her arms crossed over her chest, looking very angry. _

_As soon as she saw the two Lycan girls, her icy cold glare intensified. Nothing on this earth could've matched the anger in those eyes at that moment. And it was then that Hope and Anora knew that something was wrong and that they were in deep trouble over something. "So…a slut, am I?" was all the coven mistress said, her voice cold as ice and filled with raw fury, even though she kept it deadly calm, which actually only made it all the more terrifying. As soon as they heard this, the two girls looked at each other, instantly realizing what was going on. The color on both of their faces almost instantly drained, and fear immediately washed over them like a tidal wave. _

_Hope and Anora were both speechless, too terrified to speak. There was no way around a harsh beating now, and they knew it. They both stayed where they were, not sure what to do and looking a bit like deer caught in headlights. Then, Servina wiggled a finger at them, telling them to come to her. Then, she pointed to a spot on the ground directly in front of her, and then folded her arms again and waited, her face never wavering from that fierce glare. _

_The slaves all knew what to do then. This meant that whoever she was indicating was to kneel in front of her while she delivered judgment and an, at often times, harsh sentencing. If the girls stalled any longer, it'd only be worse for them. They had no choice, and so, Anora and Hope slowly approached Servina and kneeled in front of her on one knee, keeping their heads down the entire time. They didn't dare speak, move, look at her (especially not in the eye), or do anything other than that at the moment. Servina was on an extremely short fuse at the moment and they were both very well aware of that fact. _

"_Well…?" Servina asked in a deadly calm tone. "I'm waiting for one of you to try and think up an excuse. I can tell you one thing for sure—it'd better be a damned good one this time, too!" Oh boy, were they ever in trouble now! Both of them remained silent, their heads remaining down in respect. Servina saw this and chuckled cruelly. "As I thought," she said. "There _is _no excuse this time and you know it. Calling me such a thing, making fun of me and disrespecting me in such a way! How dare you!" _

_Hope and Anora, hoping to get at least the smallest hint of mercy, put on ashamed faces then. Servina knew exactly what they were trying to achieve with those looks, but ignored it, and instead slapped Hope across the face for the second time that day, and then did the same to Anora, producing the same effect as before on both Lycan girls. "Now then…as for your punishments, girls—"_

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"Hope." Hope was brought out of the horrifying memory of what happened by the sound of Anora's voice, accompanied a sharp stinging on her back as Anora treated the fresh cuts just recently made on it. Hope lay down on her bed at the moment on her stomach, sniffling a bit since she'd just managed to stop crying, her head resting in her folded arms upon her pillow, as Anora treated the girl's wounds from the severe beating she'd just received. She winced as the sensation hit her, whimpering softly in pain and tensing up slightly, but nothing else.

"Yeah?"

"Why did you do that?" Anora's voice wavered with emotion. Hope glanced at her to find she had a single tear running down her cheek, but then she sighed and laid her head back down. "You didn't have to endure it all. I could've taken half of the lashes, you know. Why did you offer to take mine, as well as your own?"

"What're friends for?" Anora's answer came in the form of a question asked right back to her. Then Hope continued. "I didn't wanna see you get hurt. You're my best friend, Anora, and I couldn't bear to see you punished. I gladly would've taken twice as many lashes as what I received, if it meant that you'd be safe from harm." Hope's words were sincere and her voice was confident, albeit a little weak.

Their friendship had been worth the thirty lashes she'd just received. She could've gotten merely fifteen, but that would've meant that Anora would've gotten the remainder of them. Hope just couldn't let that happen, though. She'd do what she felt she had to in order to protect her friends. And it was especially important to protect Anora from something like that, really. The girl had a condition. A fall down the stairs had left her prone to seizures and a beating like that could've very well set one off. Hope just couldn't stand the thought of it.

"Besides," she added, "it's not like it affects me too much. I've received enough of these to be fully able to handle a little whipping—oh!" Hope's sentence was cut a bit short as she cried out a bit from the sting of her wounds being treated. She winced and then recovered, then looked at Anora and smiled weakly, even though there were still tears in her eyes. There had been ever since the very first lash. "Thanks."

"For what?"

"For helping me out here, you know—for treating my back? I couldn't very well have treated my own wounds, now could I?" Hope managed a small laugh, despite the pain she was undoubtedly feeling at the moment. Anora emitted a silent sigh and kept working. That was just like Hope, to try and smile through immense pain, to try and fake people into thinking she was alright when she, in truth, was far from it.

"There's no need for you to thank me, Hope. I should actually be the one thanking you. You saved me from a beating, and took it all yourself. Nothing I could ever do would ever truly repay you for that. I owe you big. I mean, who knows what a beating like that would've done to me, especially since…_she _was the one to administer the whipping this time." Anora finished up treating her just as she asked this. Putting the supplies aside, she knelt down next to the bed and looked at her fallen friend.

Hope sighed. "Quintz? Yeah, as usual. I'd actually be surprised if she ever volunteered _not_ to be the one to beat one of the slaves. Plus, she _is _my mistress, after all…unfortunately…and boy was she ever pissed about this little 'incident'. I think we may have caught her in a bad mood." She paused for a moment, and then frowned a bit and cleared her throat, trying her best not to move as much as she could. "I'm just sorry you had to watch all that," she said in a soft voice, referring how Servina had sentenced Anora to stay and watch Hope receive her punishment, which ultimately led to the girl being chained up so she wouldn't try to run away from the penalty.

"Quintz is _always_ in a bad mood, Hope." Anora gave Hope a reassuring smile, then put a soft hand on Hope's shoulder and rubbed it gently before pushing a stray strand of hair out of the other girl's face and tucking it behind her ear. "It's alright," she replied. "Besides, I didn't have all my attention focused on it this time. A lot of it was focused on_ her_." At this last word, Anora made a disgusted face, regarding the one who had stayed for two reasons—one, to see the punishment take place, and two, to keep a close eye on Anora and make sure she didn't try to get away or anything like that.

Hope made a similar face at the mention, too. "Ugh! I know. Sythera 'Psychobitch' Damonico. First, she rats us out to Servina and _then _comes to watch the show—from when we got to the entrance foyer to when Quintz _finally _stopped beating me. I swear, the both of them get some sick, twisted, sadistic pleasure out of torturing us. And it applies to all of us, you know, not just you and I. They love to torment _all_ Lycans, especially the slaves of this coven, and all because they have anger management problems and they take it out on us—talk about issues."

"Yeah, I swear, the only reason she _did _rat us out was just to see us get punished," Anora agreed. She then gave a short pause and then looked at Hope. "And do you happen to notice at all that both she and Quintz tend to enjoy seeing the both of _us_ tortured more than any other slaves in this coven, except for Missy when it comes to Sythera? Although, I can understand Quintz liking to see you tortured more than anyone else, seeing as how she _is _the Vampire who owns you." Anora grimaced at the word "owns", as though she'd smelled something really nasty or something of the sort.

It was true— Quintessence Acanthus, who was better known as "Quintz", since anyone who ever called her by her full name would probably…no, wait…would definitely wind up dead in a matter of seconds, loved nothing more than to see Hope and Anora get beaten or tormented—especially Hope, her slave—and the only one Sythera loved seeing suffer more than them was _her_ own slave, Artemis—very well-known as one of the hardest slaves to control and probably the biggest trouble-maker in the entire mansion—even though she often times tried to play nice with her slave so that Artemis would let her guard down and think that Sythera was nicer than she seemed to be. Then, she'd eventually lose her temper over something and end up hitting Artemis or insulting her or yelling at her or something like that.

Needless to say, Missy was never convinced anymore by the bitch's nice act. She's learned quite a while ago never to let her guard down when it came to her psychopath of a mistress. It all too often led to a beating or to her feelings getting hurt greatly, even though feelings were the one thing she tried never to show. Sythera was a merciless woman who constantly tried to find Artemis's weak point, but in the three years since the woman's taken Missy as her slave, she has never been able to break her. No one has ever been able to break Artemis Gaia Rose in all of the thirty-seven years that the girl has spent in slavery amongst the Vampires. (Artemis may look to be only sixteen, but she is really fifty-three.) None have ever been able to crush the girl's spirit, save for her abusive mother, whom she ran away from after being bitten at sixteen for fear of what'd happen if her mother ever found out.

"Yeah, trust me, I noticed." Hope paused for a moment, seemingly lost in thought. Then, snapping out of it, she shook her head a bit and then looked at Anora with a smile. "Hey, we'd better get back to the mansion before Servina decides to nail us for not doing our duties." She started to get up then, wincing in pain but trying to fight through it as best she could, but Anora stopped her with a gentle hand on her shoulder, pushing her back into a lying position on her bed, as she'd been before.

The strain of that had taken a lot out of her, Hope suddenly realized as she all of a sudden felt dizzy and nauseous from the pain and exhaustion of everything, feeling like she could pass out at any given moment. "No, Hope," Anora said. "I'll go back; you stay here and rest. You need time to recover. Quintz beat you pretty badly." The girl then rubbed her friend's shoulder gently, placing a soothing hand on hers. "Rest, Hope."

"Alright, alright, I will," Hope sighed, relaxing herself again as best she could, considering how she was feeling at the moment.

Anora smiled. "Good," she said, her voice having been soft and soothing the entire time. Then, she leaned over and hugged Hope gently. "I'll see you later, then. Bye." And, with that, the girl turned and left after one final wave to her friend.

"Bye," Hope said in a quiet, weak voice. She then took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, relaxing despite the stinging pain that'd just caused her back. Then, she closed her eyes and gently drifted off to sleep.

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**A/N:** Finally, I finished Chapter 4! Sorry it took so long. I was fighting off writer's block again, and plus, I've just been so busy lately. School just started, and I've been out of town and well…I'm here now, anyway. I really hope you guys liked this chapter. I promise it'll start getting a little more exciting very soon. The storyline's about to come into play a bit more. Please R&R! Once again, constructive criticism is welcome, but please no flames. This is, as I've said before, my first "Underworld" fanfic. And, of course, I give _a lot_ of credit to the "Dark Underground" RPG, since a lot of the characters, setting, and some of the storyline originated from there. And, as always, thanks to my friend Meagan Reid for letting me use her characters—Servina Karavalis and Quintz Acanthus. And thanks to my good friend Kerry Dale for letting me use his character, Sythera Damonico, in my story. You guys all rock! Anyway, I'll update again as soon as I get the chance, since a lot of people really seem to wanna see how this story goes. Although, it may take me a little longer than usual, since I now have school to deal with. I really appreciate you guys' thoughts on this story, so please keep them coming. Until then, this is Diva'sDream. See ya later, everyone! .


	5. Chpt 5 Roommates

**Chapter 5: Roommates**

The sound of someone moving around in her room was what woke Hope up. At first, she thought it was her friend and roommate, Merissa, come to get something or rest a bit while she's not needed. Hope opened her eyes groggily, groaning just slightly as she did so and wincing a bit, taking a quiet yet sharp breath as the sting from her wounds made itself known to her once more. The Lycan girl looked to her friend's bed on the wall opposite her, expecting to see her sitting there. No one was there. The girl then caught movement out of the corner of her eye, and her gaze immediately shot to the vacant bed on the wall opposite the door. (Hers was a room for three, just like all the others in the Lycans' Quarters. They all shared rooms, which were all just big enough to fit three people, though still a bit cramped. None of the slaves were allowed their own rooms, except the self-proclaimed Alpha of their pack, Raven.)

Hope was very surprised to see someone there when she looked in that direction. A young woman sat on the bed with her back to Hope, unpacking what little she had with her in a small bag next to her, obviously having not noticed the girl waking up. Hope tried to sit up, but found she couldn't and whimpered a bit in pain as she fell back in the position she was in before. Although that, plus the sound of the bed creaking had alerted the new woman to Hope's presence and she gasped a bit in surprise and immediately turned around to face Hope.

It was only then that Hope could see that she'd been crying, which wasn't very hard to understand, considering where and who she'd just been sold to. Anora had bawled her eyes out for days on end when she'd first come to this place. Then again, Anora hadn't been born into slavery. She'd been captured after having her home burnt to the ground and her entire pack killed, save for those under the age of eighteen, who where all sold into slavery—she'd watched her parents be killed right in front of her eyes, and had her little sister taken right out of her arms.

Of course, it'd always been more of a possibility for something of that nature to happen to Anora's pack, the Shadows, and she knew it. She'd been born and raised in a rebel Lycan pack, so the Vampires were way more determined to bring them down than they were for most Lycans. The Shadows, along with their allies, the Silvers, lived to fight for freedom from the Vampires, and to help those already in servitude, especially if that meant the chance to go kill off some Vampires.

The Shadows and the Silvers, especially, were hunted by the Vampires, seeing as how they were basically the two biggest threats to Vampires when it came to rebel Lycans. They were definitely forces to be reckoned with. It'd always been more likely that something would happen to them than to other Lycans. Also, it was more likely because, unlike a lot of Lycans these days, Anora had come from an entire pack. Most didn't concentrate themselves in large groups anymore for fear that it'd make them an easier target than they were already. So Anora had had it rough when she'd first arrived, especially with the reputation she'd carried with her as a rebel from the Shadows clan, making her instantly hated in the mansion by most Vampires.

Although, Hope sometimes had trouble relating to people like this woman and like Anora, who'd been captured and forced into this place. She hadn't been forced. Hope had been at Draconis ever since she could remember, having been taken and sold there when she was an infant. She had a hard time relating to how it felt to lose everything like Anora, including family. She'd never had a family, and had never had anything to lose in the first place—not like them. Although, she tried her best to understand and be supportive of those who had gone through it.

Anyway, this woman in front of Hope now looked to be in her early twenties. Although, one could never tell with Lycans. She was mostly likely way older than she looked to be—most Lycans—and Vampires, for that matter—were. Hope was an exception. She'd been born a Lycan and so looked her age. The same went for Anora. Although, eventually, the two will reach an age where they'll stop aging physically. Usually once a born Lycan turned twenty-one, this happened. (Just go with it!)

The woman had long brown hair and blue eyes, just like Hope's. Hope pulled the covers up to her chin, a bit intimidated by the lady. She never was quite good when it came to strangers. A barely audible whimper could be heard if one listened closely enough. The woman had heard it. "Please…don't be frightened," she said to Hope very softly. "I won't hurt you; I swear."

Hope slowly lowered the covers and then just watched the woman closely. The brunette in front of her bore on her face a pleasant and kind smile. Her eyes seemed very gentle and caring. "Hello, Dear. My name is Eve. What's your name?" she asked softly, her smile never once wavering even in the slightest as she silently and slowly took a step towards the girl in front of her. Hope whimpered again just slightly, looking scared, and pulled her knees to her chest, though this created some pain for her back when she did so. "Please…I will not harm you, Sweetheart."

Hope looked at this other woman for a second. Sniffing the air lightly, she could almost instantly tell that this was another Lycan. Shaking slightly in nervousness, Hope's eyes darted around the room a bit, unable to meet the strangers gaze. "Hope," she finally said, her voice a soft, timid and shaky whisper. She studied the woman closely for a moment or two, knowing she'd have to get used to her and get to know her if she was to be living in the same room as Hope and Merissa.

Eve merely smiled, satisfied with what little she'd gotten out of the frightened little girl. Hope could've sworn she'd seen just the smallest hint of pain on Eve's face as she said her name—she could see it in the woman's eyes. She figured it was because she might've known someone with the same name before she came to Draconis and was very close to them. "Well, hello, Hope," Eve said, that small glint of angst barely noticeable in her voice as well. "It looks like we're going to be roommates from now on." Eve went and sat down on her bed, knowing she wouldn't be able to get too close to the Hope just yet. The girl was afraid of her.

Hope studied Eve for a bit longer before speaking again softly. "D-did you just g-get here?" she asked in a timid whisper. She wanted to be careful with that question, since she knew that anything like that could've been a very touchy subject for many people. She'd seen even more vague questions than that bother people when they first arrived at the mansion, since they were often so sensitive about everything that'd happened to them. Anora had been that way, as can probably be expected with her.

Eve nodded. "Yes," she answered the question, seeming a bit distant, but not quite as upset as Hope had thought she'd be. Well, the woman looked to be in her twenties, which meant she was probably older. In any case, Hope guessed that the woman was capable of handling her emotions better than some, since she was older. Hope knew that she couldn't do it. She'd be flipping out by now. "Yes, I did just get here. They just bought me and had me brought here today. And I hadn't been in captivity for that long so far, either. They actually just caught me about a week ago."

Hope couldn't help but admire how well she was taking this. She was a very strong individual, obviously. "Really?" she said at hearing that last part, her interest perking up. She wanted to hear more, since something had seemed different about her since the beginning, and she thought that this might have something to do with it.

"Yes." Eve looked around a bit. Then she sniffed the air and listened. She wanted to make sure that no one else was around to overhear them. And, just for extra precaution, she lowered her voice to a whisper. Leaning her head slightly towards the other girl, she said, "I come from a rebel pack of Lycans." Then, she stood straight again and repeated the process of making sure no one was around. She didn't want to risk being overheard.

Hope's eyes widened just a bit. She could hardly believe what she was hearing. Never before had she actually met a Lycan from a rebel pack from the outside world. Yes, sure, her entire pack was basically made up of rebel Lycans, but this was different. "Wow…" she muttered under her breath. Then, she shook her head a bit, catching herself. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to stare."

Eve only smiled. "That's alright. I understand. You've never seen someone so much like yourself who is also from outside of this mansion, have you?" The girl in front of her shook her head. "I get it." She then looked around a bit and then asked, "Um…any idea what I'm supposed to do now?"

Hope thought for a second. "Uh…did they tell you anything before they let you go?" She asked this next question cautiously. "…You have been…branded already…haven't you?" She hated talking about that with other people. It was a touchy subject for many. All slaves had to be branded. Although, this was another thing that Hope couldn't relate to anymore. She'd had it done, yes, but didn't remember it anymore. Cruelly enough, it'd been done to her when she'd first gotten there as well, even though the girl had been just an infant at the time. It'd hard to believe for some, but it's the truth. Although, most don't have a hard time believing things like that when it came to the Vampires. They wouldn't hesitate and nearly everybody knew that already.

"Hmm? Oh, yes. Yes, I have. And I feel sorry for everyone here who has had to go through that. It was awful!" Eve shivered at the recent memory of being branded—being held down by two big, strong, cruel Vampires as another pressed a scorching hot brander against her shoulder, forever burning the Draconis insignia into the woman's shoulder. The pain had been simply excruciating, and Eve had barely been able to stand it without breaking, even though she was this brave rebel Lycan. This was something she wasn't used to. It was something that no one should ever have to go through, and yet it was nothing new to these slaves. That was what was so sad. "And they said I didn't have to start work until tomorrow."

Hope nodded. "Then, I guess, you have the rest of the night to do as you please, within reason, of course. I would suggest staying here in the Lycans' quarters. It's not safe for a brand new slave to be near the Vampires unless they have to—especially the Vampires around here. In case no one's given you that welcome yet—welcome to Hell on Earth… I hate to sound so dreary, but that's basically what this place is."

"Yes, I kind of figured that out by now." Eve rolled her eyes a bit at the thought of them. She'd already been introduced to some of the Vampires in her new home, and she could already clearly tell that she despised every single one of them. Then again, considering who she's met, that's not incredibly hard to believe.

"Oh boy," Hope sighed, having picked up on exactly what she'd meant by that. "Which of the Vampires have you met so far?"

"Um…the Coven Mistress, I know that much. She was the first damn one to jump down my throat as soon as I set foot inside that door. I already ran into their Head Death Dealer. And…some psychobitch dreads?" Eve raised an eyebrow, wondering who the hell that woman had been. She'd been an absolute bitch towards Eve, and Eve pretty much hated her most of all, along with the two other Vampires she'd already named and one other she'd come into contact with already.

Hope automatically rolled her eyes and sighed, smiling and even chuckling a bit under her breath as her own mistress was called that name. The funny thing was that that's one of the exact names that Hope already called Quintz on a regular basis. "Quintz. I know exactly who you're talking about. She's a Death Dealer and, unfortunately, the Vampire who owns me. And, she's probably the biggest walking time bomb in the entire God-forsaken coven. Be careful around her! She can be _very_ dangerous."

As though to back up her point, Hope gripped her shoulder gently, since it again had begun to sting. Eve looked at the girl as she did so, and almost immediately got the point. Plus, she saw the cuts on the girl's shoulder, and that was enough of a hint for her. "Did…did she hurt you recently…?" Eve asked her cautiously, not wanting to overstep any boundaries by asking her such things.

But Hope merely nodded, not getting defensive at all, to Eve's relief. "Yes… She beat me a little earlier on this evening...whipped me pretty badly…"

Eve's brow furrowed. She always hated to see children hurt. And, though Hope was no child, it was all the same. Hope reminded her of someone, and so she felt in the same way towards her as if she had been a young child being treated poorly. That probably wasn't too far from the truth, anyway. Eve figured that Hope probably was abused as a child, anyway. She had the air about her of one who had grown up in this kind of situation. Everything about her personality and the way she'd acted when they'd first met suggested that the girl had been abused by these severely Vampires for quite a while now. "If I may ask…why?"

"I'm afraid I angered Little Miss High-and-Mighty, or Servina, as she's more commonly known," Hope snickered, showing a bit of contempt for the Vampire woman. Eve actually had to hold back a chuckle at the name that Hope had called Servina. She'd only just met her and she could already tell that the name suited her. She wasn't sure how; she just could. "All that another slave and I did was speak the truth—that she's a slut who needs to learn to get over her fucking relationship-ADD and stick with one damned man at a time for once. Especially since the whore is already married, even though her husband is the one still awaiting his turn to be awakened!" Hope stopped suddenly then. She took a deep breath to try and calm herself down, for she'd begun to get worked up. "I'm so sorry; I lost my temper for a second there."

"That's perfectly alright. It's not hard in this place, by the looks of it so far."

Hope smiled, knowing that this woman would do fine at Draconis. "Thanks… And the other slave didn't get punished—be assured of that. I took it all. It may sound foolish to you that I did so, but trust me, I had my reasons." Then she remembered something that the woman would need to take care of, if she hadn't already. "Hey, have you met Raven yet?" Eve shook her head no. "You'll need to do that. She's our Alpha. See, the slaves here have all formed their own pack, and Raven is our self-proclaimed leader—has been since the pack was formed. Respect her, understand? What she says goes in here, just as with any other Alpha. You need to become acquainted with her, since she's the one in charge."

Hope paused for a second, listening. Footsteps could be heard getting closer to the room. Hope knew people by many cues, like the sounds of their footsteps, their scents, their voices, and other things like that. She sighed, and then looked at Eve, smiling a bit in a reassuring way. "And, speak of the devil, here she comes. She probably knows you're here and is coming to meet you. Plus, I have a feeling that she's also coming to have a little talk with me. I suspect she's probably not very happy with me or with the other slave that I told you about at the moment. Be assured, she's stern, but she's fair. And she's actually pretty cool, once you get to know her…in a leader sort of way… Don't worry; you'll be fine. If anyone, I'm the one who should be a bit nervous here."

No sooner had she said that and given another reassuring smile, then laid back in her bed on her side, then the door opened a bit loudly and in walked a woman with a very stern-looking expression on her face, whom Eve could only assume was Raven, her knew Alpha and the woman that she was supposed to meet then.

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**A/N:** Yes! Chapter 5! Again, I am _so_ sorry it took so long! I had writer's block again and what with exams and all… I'm sure you all know how that is. As always, I hope you guys liked this chapter. Now we're starting to get somewhere. I'm sure a lot of you probably already have some guesses as to how this newcomer is going to shake things up. R&R, please! And, as always, I give _a lot_ of credit to the "Dark Underground" RPG, since a lot of the characters, setting, and some of the storyline originated from there. And, as always, thanks to my friend Meagan Reid for letting me use her characters—Servina Karavalis and Quintz Acanthus. And thanks to my good friend Kerry Dale for letting me use his character, Sythera Damonico, in my story. And also, thanks to Ravenclaw for letting me use her character, Raven. Love ya guys! I'll update ASAP. Keep the reviews coming please! You're opinions are much appreciated. See ya later, everyone! .

Diva'sDream


	6. Chpt 6 Raven Corvus

**Chapter 6: Raven Corvus**

Raven Corvus walked into the room, and one could immediately sense the air of dominance about her. A person could easily tell right away that she was in charge amongst them. Hope, of course, kept her eyes down and her demeanor low in respect towards her Alpha, especially since she didn't yet know just how much trouble she was in yet with the woman. Eve immediately showed the woman respect as well, lowering her head reverentially and not speaking or moving unless Raven indicated so.

The Alpha walked into the room quickly, wasting no time at all. She looked at Eve for just a second, indicating that she'd seen her and knew she was there. But her main focus right now was Hope. She turned to the girl and glared at her, walking over and standing next to her bed. She stared down at the pathetic little girl lying on her bed in complete agony that could've so easily been avoided, her arms crossed angrily. Raven definitely did _not_ look happy at all, that was for sure.

Hope kept her head and ears lowered, showing respect and at the same time fear of this woman standing so near to her and glowering down at her. The fear definitely showed in the way Hope just barely audibly whimpered upon seeing the look on Raven's face and began trembling as the woman's shadow loomed over her. Hope didn't dare speak unless spoken to nor do anything without her Alpha's consent, especially not at that moment in time. Raven had been in the room for merely ten or fifteen seconds, but already Hope was on the verge of tears.

"Again," she began, obviously trying to keep her voice and temper down, trying her best to remain calm—at least to begin with… "You were caught again. You promised me, Hope. You promised me that if I showed you a way to temporarily get away from all of this and to get out of this house and away from these grounds—away from the entire mansion and coven and everything—that you _wouldn't_ be caught. But how many times have you been caught already _this month_ alone, Hope? Hmm? How many times?!"

Hope was flinching with almost every sentence now. Raven's voice had definitely risen already. She was definitely not calm anymore. Trembling, Hope answered Raven's question with a quiet whisper, stuttering nervously and trying not to cry. She kept her eyes down the entire time. She wouldn't dare look Raven in the eye when the Alpha was so angry with her. She just couldn't bring herself to do so. "T-three…"

"Three times _this month_, Hope. Three times!" Raven was practically yelling by then, and then began pacing a bit. She was definitely angry now, and Hope was definitely afraid. "I trusted you, Hope! I took pity on you! I trusted you not to get yourself caught, and you disappointed me, Hope. You let me down! I told you how much trouble you would be getting the _entire_ pack into—not just yourself—if you were caught sneaking out. You may have been let off the hook this time by Servina, but do you have _any _idea what's going to happen the next time you get caught, Hope? Do you?!"

Hope shook her head no, a few tears falling down her cheeks now due to both her fear and what Raven was expressing. "No, M-Ma'am…"

"We all get punished! Not just you—all of us! Every single Lycan in this pack! Is that what you want?! There are thirty-seven Lycans in this pack. Do you want all of us to be punished as you were tonight? Do you want all of your friends getting beaten as badly as you were tonight? You can't take _all_ of the punishment if that happens, and you know it, Hope!" Raven took a deep breath, sighed and tried her best to calm herself down.

"Look," she then continued, her voice a low and angry growl as she stopped pacing and just stared Hope down—definitely not the sort of tone you ever want to hear from Raven, a very powerful Alpha female. "I'm not saying that you can never go out again. I'm not going to tell you that you can never go and get away from this hell-hole for a bit if you _really _need to. Believe me, I understand that need. I do! But if you ever even let _me_ catch you sneaking out or back in these grounds again, then I swear to you that there won't even be enough of you left for the Vampires to whip after I'm through with you. Do I make myself perfectly clear, Hope?!"

"Y-yes, Ma'am…" Hope was crying by then. First off, she was upset about having disappointed Raven in such a way. Secondly, needless to say, she was absolutely terrified of the woman when Raven was in one of her rages. And Raven was _definitely _in one of her rages at the moment. Unfortunately for Hope, Raven wasn't quite through yet. She still had one more matter to "discuss"—a.k.a., to yell about angrily while Hope sat there and listened like a good little girl. That's Raven Corvus for ya when she's angry.

"Good," she said shortly, signaling that she was satisfied with the results of her scolding of the girl. "Now then, to the other matter—the reason why you _were_ punished tonight." She gave Hope a small warning glare, crossing her arms again, advising her not to say anything at the moment, and that she wasn't at all happy about her actions concerning this at all. Also, it was sort of one of those "you-know-perfectly-well-what-you-did-wrong" stares. Then, she continued.

"Now, regarding what you said about Servina…" Raven began with a more subdued tone, softening up her expression a bit, noting that the young girl was upset by that time—and probably frightened out of her wits of her own Alpha by then, she also figured. "Listen, we all know that she's an undead, two timing harlot, savage killer, slave beating bitch…" Raven paused, predicting the small chuckle that Hope could barely contain, before continuing, "But the point is that we _all_ know this already, as I'm sure you should know by now, given some of the other slaves' opinions of her that are voiced at times here in the Lycans' quarters. There was no need to verbally accost her inside her own house, where _any_ Vampire with their ear to a wall could hear you. You were careless Hope. I would imagine that not all of your lashes where earned due to speaking out of turn. It was the last straw and yours was the back that was broken. Those lashes you received where both for sneaking out and being heard, I'm sure.

"Now, I don't know whether it's because you've not had the luxury of a free life at all and have not learned what some would call 'street smarts', or if you just don't care anymore. But you've got to be more careful. What were you thinking? You should know better by now… Look, you're too young to be as brash as you are, especially around here. Hell, you're Lycan form hasn't even matured to full adulthood yet. Look at how long it's taking you to heal, even if it _was_ a silver whip. You need to keep on your toes."

She turned to Eve then, who was quietly listening to her new Alpha speak. "And that goes for you as well, now," she said to the new girl. "Now is not the time for us to be acting careless, you two. The Vampires need to think that we are all mindless drones who don't care about free life anymore in the least."

Raven leaned in closer to Hope then, making the girl a bit uncomfortable, admittedly. Hope probably thought she meant to start chewing her out again. But the girl slowly began to relax as Raven spoke again… "Can't you smell how close it is?" she asked Hope with a hint of a smile on her face, allowing Hope to calm down even more. "That fresh, sweet scent of freedom? Imagine it—waking up in your own warm, cozy bed, not having to answer to anyone. You want that one day, don't you? That one day when you can finally see freedom? We all had it once, even you, though you may not remember. You may have been here at Draconis since you were an infant, but you weren't born into slavery, Hope." Raven said this as she gently brushed a lock of the girl's hair out of her face, a kind and gentle gesture, accompanied by that ever so slight smile before continuing once more.

"Hell, I could leave this place at this very moment and never have to worry about being seen by another vampire for the rest of my life. I don't, and do you know why? …Because, who would look after this pack, as I've done, if I ever did leave? Who would keep Quintz from backing out on her word and giving your friend, Anora, the same thirty lashes that she gave you—or at the very least, the fifteen that she's originally promised the girl? Who would be here to see that you only receive thirty lashes, instead of sixty?

"I'm the only one the Vampires give any credit to. You know why? I've been here for two hundred years and I do as I'm told. …And I stay because there are rebel packs out there as we speak, preparing to overthrow the Vampires." Hope glanced at Eve quickly as Raven said this, remembering that the woman had mentioned being from a rebel pack of Lycans. Then, she turned her attention back on her Alpha just as quickly as the woman continued. "There's a war coming and the undead can't see it brewing. If they ever do, they'll kill every last one of us without even the slightest hesitation."

"Which is why we must keep quiet and make them believe that we think all hope of our freedom to be nonexistent," Hope finally caught on to what Raven was saying.

Raven's smile grew slightly bigger as she heard this. She nodded her head yes and then raised herself back up until she was standing straight, as she normally did while in the Lycan house, with that air of confident dominance about her. "Now, maybe I'm just an old wolf clinging to a past life, but it's coming Hope—it's coming faster than you can imagine." She began for the door. "I've asked for you to be permitted to stay here in the slaves' quarters tomorrow so that you may finish healing. I convinced Servina that she wouldn't want to lay eyes on the mangy dog who tarnished her good name."

Raven gave a hint of a chuckle, then turned back and gave Hope a small smile as she found the girl frowning and looking slightly hurt by the remark, indicating that she hadn't really meant it as an insult to the girl; she'd only said what Servina would wanna hear. "She was pompous enough to agree to it…" Hope's smile slowly returned and she giggled lightly, catching on to this.

"You rest now Hope, and think about what I said. All you have to do is to keep your head down and do as you're told, and I swear that one day…you will be reunited with your pack." And with that Raven gave one more little smile, opened the door, and left Hope and her new roommate to think about what she'd said.

Hope smiled a bit, having been uplifted by Raven's speech. She had that effect on people a lot of the time—when it seems that everyone's given up hope, in comes Raven with another sermon like the one she'd just given. That's why Hope, as well as every other Lycan in their pack, completely admired their Alpha female, Raven Corvus. And that admiration now clearly showed itself in Hope's eyes, and Eve even seemed to already be seeing Raven, her new Alpha, in the same way. Although, one thing that Raven had said had left doubts in the Hope's mind…

Raven had said that Hope would one day be reunited with her pack. Hope wasn't exactly sure that this was possible. She'd been a slave practically her entire life. She may have not been born in servitude, but she'd been their since infancy. She had no idea what'd happened to her pack. For all Hope knew, they could all be dead, which was likely given the fact that she'd come there by herself without any other members of her pack. Or even if they weren't dead, they were probably long gone from that area by then. What were the chances of Hope being able to find them, even if they were still around?

Plus, even if they were still alive…how would they ever remember her? As was said before, she'd been at Draconis since she was an infant. Even if were to find them and finally be reunited with her pack, how would they ever remember who she was? And how would she know where to find them and whether they were her pack or not? She'd never been told even the slightest detail about her old life… How would she know?

But all of those doubts were beginning to bring her mood back down, and so Hope tried to push them from her mind for the time being, not wanting to think about them at all. Instead, she tried to focus on Raven's words again. She lay back on her pillow and then turned her head to look at Eve at hearing the other woman speak to her all of a sudden. "She's amazing…"

Hope nodded, agreeing completely. "Yeah," she sighed, putting her head back down with that same smile never once fading from her lips and finally relaxing for the first time that evening, "she is…"

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**A/N:** Hurray! I finished Chapter 6!!! And it didn't take anywhere near as long as usual. Yay me! Hope you all like it the story so far. R&R, please! I'm actually starting to get a bit tired of thanking the same people at the end of every chapter, you guys will all have to read the Author's Notes for the past chapters—you know, about how a lot of the credit goes to the RP and to the people mentioned already. Unless I mention any new people I have to thank, in which case, I'll do so in the Author's Notes. Lol, you guys all rock…but it's starting to get really irritating having to say your names over and over… But one person I definitely do have to mention and thank this time, even though I mentioned her last time, is Ravenclaw. I have a hard time grasping her character, Raven's, personality. And I wasn't sure how to write this chapter with her parts. So thank you to Ravenclaw for helping me basically write a lot of her dialogue for this chapter. A lot of Raven's speaking parts in this chapter are actually quotes from what RC said she would say, so thank you for that RC. You definitely deserve the credit this time around. Ok…ya know what? That's it! RC, you've officially been dubbed the co-author of this chapter. Why? Because you rock my socks! Hurray for RC!!! Meaning that a lot of the sentence will be hers sometimes, directly quoted from her. She Raven's _entire_ rant; I just reworded it a lot to fit my writing style. Now, we'll see whether or not she becomes permanent co-author later on. Oh, the suspense! I'll update ASAP. Keep the reviews coming please! You're opinions are much appreciated. See ya later, everyone! .

Diva'sDream


	7. Chpt 7 Trouble Maker

**Chapter 7:**** Trouble-Maker**

Well, it took a while, but Hope finally recovered fully. Raven was right. If it took her so long to heal, silver whip or no, then her Lycan form definitely wasn't mature enough yet. She was still in slight pain, even with the day she had been given to heal. She was still weaker than she thought. No wonder Quintz and Sythera and the other Vampires tended to pick on her so much—a lot of the Vampires tended to pick on her more than any of the other slaves. Apparently, she was an _easy_ target! …Then again, she was also a bit of a trouble-maker, making for an easy person to get in trouble and be able to hurt a lot. She needed to be more careful and she knew it.

All of those thoughts crossed her mind as she went up the steps to the mansion, Eve following closely behind her. Eve had been permitted to remain with Hope until she healed, and Hope had been given the task of showing her around and getting her used to slave life in Draconis Mansion. She'd already begun explaining things to her, like what to do when she wakes up and to not oversleep and things like that. Eve was yawning a bit, for she hadn't gotten much sleep.

Hope told her not to worry and that she'd get used to everything fast. It wasn't the amount of hours she'd gotten because of work, for the slaves were dismissed as soon as the sun rose and didn't have to start up again until it set. It was the fact of being in such a new place and everything—she'd been having problems sleeping for far. Hopefully, that'd work itself out as she got more used to being there.

"If there is a Vampire present in the room, do not entering without first bowing and waiting to be acknowledged by one of them. Once you are, go on in and do whatever it is that you need to do," Hope was currently explaining as she walked, rattling off the rules and customs without fault, having heard and recited them so many times. Eve just followed behind her, listening to everything the other girl said. Of course, how well she followed these rules was debatable, knowing her and the fact of her being from a rebel pack, but she'd see. At least she'd know them. "And if one happens to be in the room, do _not _speak unless spoken to, unless you need to ask one of the Vampires something or unless it's very important, got it so far, Eve?"

Eve nodded. "Yeah, I got it."

"That's good. And if there's anything you need help with or anything, you can always come to me. Just come find me." Hope stopped for a moment when they'd reached the door and turned back to look at Eve, giving her a reassuring smile. "Okay?"

Eve smiled back. "Okay."

"You ready?"

"As I'll ever be…"

"Okay. Remember what I've told you so far, and if you get stuck, then just look at me and I'll try to help you out if I can." And, with that, Hope opened the front doors of Draconis Mansion, only to be met by Raven getting directly in her face more or less as soon as she opened the door. She gasped in surprise as this happened, but knew exactly what the Alpha was going to get onto her about.

"Have you thought about what I said?" Raven asked, standing to her full height before the girl. Doing this only brought her to eye level with Hope, since she wasn't especially tall (Raven is around 5'2"–5'3", while Hope about 5'5" or so), but the girl understood the gesture as one of superiority nonetheless. Raven's expression remained stern and her pose one of dominance. "Are you going to do as you're told this time, Hope?"

"Y-yes, ma'am," Hope stammered, again showing a bit of nervousness due to her Alpha's firm disposition at the moment in the way the girl wrung her hands together just a bit as she trembled just the slightest bit, recoiling a little. She lowered her head just slightly, moving her gaze below Raven's and diminishing her posture slightly, showing the Alpha the respect she commanded—and well-deserved.

"Good, because Mistress Servina has 'ordered' me to keep an eye on you," Raven explained. "It's _my_ hide if you step out of line again, do you understand me?" The sound of her Alpha's voice _definitely _told Hope that Raven wasn't kidding around and that she'd _better_ try to listen that time. She knew perfectly well that the woman would chew her right up and spit her back out if she got in trouble again. If Hope screwed up like this yet again too soon…well…she'd have to be _way_ more concerned about what _Raven_ would do to her than what Servina or any of the Vampires would do to her.

"Yes, m-ma'am," Hope replied nervously.

"Good. See to it that you don't forget, Hope."

"Yes, ma'am." Hope bowed her head a bit once more at this.

"All right, then. Now, both of you go inside and get to work. I take it you are going to show her around and get her accustomed to our way of life around here, Hope?" Raven asked as she stepped out of the way to let the two girls pass into the entrance foyer of the mansion, of course referring to Eve.

"Yes, Raven," Hope replied as she led the other girl through the doors. Raven nodded in understanding and then left with one final, "Good. I trust there will be _no_ problems then." Hope looked towards the door as Raven left, her expression a mixture between sadness, irritation, and maturity. Hope knew the drill by now with the new slaves and Evelyn didn't seem the rebellious type, so it shouldn't be a problem. Hope led Eve through the room towards the hallway, trying to think of what to show her first.

"All right then, let's get to work. Come with me and I'll show you the ropes, okay, Eve?"

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**A/N:** Yay! Here's Chapter 7, people!!! Sorry everyone—school and crap… Grrr! Well, now school's out and I'll have a lot more time to write! Huzzah! …As…long as my computer restrictions don't get into the way… (My dad and step-mom SUCK at making rules…) Well, as always, hope you all like it the story so far. R&R, please! Oh, the suspense! I'll update ASAP. Keep the reviews coming please! You're opinions are much appreciated. See ya later, everyone! .

Diva'sDream


	8. Chpt 8 Quintessence Acanthus

**Chapter 8:**** Quintessence Acanthus**

"All right then, let's get to work. Come with me and I'll show you the ropes, okay, Eve?"

Eve nodded and then followed Hope around the mansion. Hope gave her the usual tour of the mansion, first of all. No use learning how to serve a mansion you'll just get lost in on a regular basis, right? She showed her all of the rooms that they were allowed in—the entrance foyer, kitchen, ballroom, the hallway to the Vampires' apartments, etc—taking great care in emphasizing the rules of where they could and couldn't go and refreshed her on any of the rules that she may have missed about it.

Hope made sure to stress certain things, like that Lycans were _not_ allowed in the lower levels unless specifically _ordered_ there by a Vampire. Not that it was anywhere a Lycan would ever _want_ to go. That's where you'd be most likely to run into one of the Vampires in their bad moods. Aside from normal rooms that they just weren't allowed in without permission, like the practice room and meeting room, it was where the certain rooms were that a Lycan should _never_ want to go in—the sleeping Elder's chamber, and especially the weapons' room, where most punishments were carried out.

It was a _huge_ mansion, so they both knew perfectly well that this would take one hell of a long time. Besides the building itself, they also had to go and check out things like the garden, stables, and all of the other things around the grounds of Draconis Mansion. But hey, it was well worth it! Especially as opposed to getting lost and then in trouble and possibly harmed in some way simply _because_ you got lost. Hope absolutely _detested_ having to go through this tour and rules and expectations speech and that whole spiel over and over and feeling like the Draconis Mansion Lycan tour guide or whatever, but…there wasn't really too much she could do about that now, was there?

They'd been walking around the mansion for quite a while when finally they came to the library. Other than the stables and garden, Hope had to admit that this was her favorite place to be outside of the safety of her room. This was simply because she liked to read, and she'd come in here and read when she wasn't being pestered to do anything and was alone. It was one of her biggest escapes from the horrors of the world she lived in.

"Ok, well, this is the mansion library—pretty self explanatory, I think." Hope looked back at Eve to make sure she was still there and paying attention. She was looking around with wide eyes. Well, it _was_ a pretty big room! Anyone who loves to read would feel _really_ good in there—there must've been hundreds of books in there!

Eve looked around the room and then at Hope. "Wow…"

"I know. Massive, isn't it?"

"I'll say!"

Hope laughed and turned back around to keep moving. They'd been at this tour for a good 20 minutes or so and they _still_ weren't anywhere _near _done! Eve looked around one more time, transfixed by the room, and then went to follow her new friend, smiling for the first time in many days.

"Are you chickening out on me?!"

Hope's eyes widened as soon as she heard the voice and the fast approaching footsteps. She knew automatically from the voice who one of the two people coming were. Thinking quickly, she whirled around, grabbed Eve's hand, and ran behind a bookshelf, hiding from sight. She pushed Eve back a bit to make sure she stayed clear of the edge and safe from being seen, then looked at her and held up a finger to her lips so as to warn her to remain silent. Her breathing increased and Eve could tell that she was afraid.

Hope peeked around the corner of the bookshelf and then just as quickly whipped her head back around just in time to hear the two enter, pressing herself against the bookshelf and closing her eyes for a second so as to try and collect her thoughts and think more clearly about the situation. Eve could tell that whoever these people were, they were _not_ ones to anger and it was best if they didn't know of the Lycans' presence there.

"No, Quintz! I'm just not so sure anymore if this is such a good idea is all."

The last thing Hope wanted was for them to find them there, so she tried to be as quiet and still as possible, knowing full well that Quintz was very intuitive and could pick up on their presence very easily if they weren't careful. And if they were caught, the punishment for eavesdropping would be severe, especially with Quintz and the obvious bad temper she was having at the moment, made apparent by her tone—a temper that was extremely bad, even for _her_.

"Look, Mel, if you're having second thoughts, then you can just leave. I don't actually need you, you know, and you are not being forced to do this!"

"I know! I…I want to, believe me! I want to get rid of her just as much as the next Vampire, but do you really think that this could work? I mean, would you just stop and think about it for even one second?! Security's gonna be super tight the night of the ceremony! If we get caught, they'll bleed us dry!"

Hope knew she shouldn't be listening to a conversation between two Vampires, but this obviously wasn't right. Something was going on and she knew it. Her mistress was definitely planning something. Not surprising, considering what kind of person she was.

"They will both be weakened during the ceremony! And where we will be positioned, no one can stop us! Do you really think that anyone will object to us getting rid of the two of _them_? Not one amongst us wishes to live through another century with _him_ running things and you _know_ that's true, so don't even _try_ to deny it!"

Well…no, I suppose not… I don't really know many actual _supporters_ the two of them have around here. Maybe you're right…"

"Of course I'm right! Now buzz off and go cool down! I wish not to be disturbed and you're obviously getting yourself worked up over nothing!"

"Quintz—!"

Hope heard the unmistakable sound of a gun being cocked, and a startled gasp followed by sudden stillness and silence, and she knew that the argument was all over. Absolutely _no one_ argued with Quintz when she pulled out her gun and was _this_ angry. Actually, barely _anyone_ ever argued with Quintz anyway you look at it!

"I said buzz off…"

Quintz's last line came as a low, dead calm tone, but still held within it a clear hint of fierceness. Then, sure enough, the other Vampire's footsteps could be heard quickly retreating. Hope wasn't surprised at all that the Dreadlock Drag Queen-in-Training had won yet another confrontation.

No one in the mansion messed with Quintessence Acanthus, _ever_—unless it was their head Death Dealer, Jelena Insokovs, or Mistress Servina—_especially_ not when she used that sort of tone with the person. And with good reason, too. Quintz was indisputably the biggest psychopath in the entire mansion.

Hope kept as still as possible, daring not move for fear of being discovered, holding out a hand to Eve to signal for her to do the same. She knew that if Quintz found them there, all hell would break loose. And Quintz owned Hope, so there was really nothing anyone could do about it if—or rather _when_—Quintz punished Hope for it. She may be able to save Eve from being harmed, but that would surely be costly for Hope herself, since she knew Quintz would very happily agree to let Eve off the hook only if Hope took both her punishment _and_ Eve's for her.

She looked over at Eve for a second, who looked a mix between shocked and utterly confused. Tried her best to give her new friend a reassuring look, although she wasn't sure at all whether it worked or not. Hope let out the deep breath that she'd been holding in as silently as possible, closing her eyes for just a second to try and get her bearings and relax, even if it were only for a moment.

Opening her eyes again, Hope turned and went to go and peer around the corner so as to check and see where her mistress was. As soon as she peered around the corner, she jumped back in surprise and screamed, her heart automatically beginning to race.

She backed up a few steps as Quintz stalked towards her slowly, arms crossed and looking extremely angry. As was the usual intimidation tactic for her to use, Quintz kept advancing on her slave until she had backed Hope against a wall, and then wasted no time in pinning the girl to it, painfully, by her shoulders. Hope gasped lightly at the sudden movement and pain and winced slightly, then looked up at her mistress in fear.

"Spying on me now, are we?" Quintz gaze cut right into Hope like a hot knife into butter. Her steely gaze could chill even the bravest of men to the core. The pure hatred and wrath contained in her eyes alone was enough to scare absolutely anyone.

She tightened her grip on Hope's shoulders as she said this, digging her nails into the girl's flesh. Hope knew that Quintz would probably end up drawing blood doing this, but that was the _least_ of her worries at the moment. She immediately began to tremble as the Vampire towered over her, knowing full well that she would probably end up with another just as severe beating, if not _more_ so, after this.

Quintz smiled wickedly at noticing her tremble, satisfied in the fact that she had full control over her slave. She emitted a low chuckle. Poor Eve, who stood in the same spot as before, was too terrified to move. "And, um…just how much of that little chat did we overhear now, hmm?" That menacing smile never once left her face.

She knew perfectly well that it was a good weapon of intimidation to use, especially on her slave. Quintz knew how to full on terrorize and intimidate, and loved nothing more than to use those skills of hers to the best of her ability.

At first, Hope was too paralyzed with fear to answer. She stared up at her mistress with wide, frightened eyes, trembling and even emitting a soft whimper every now and then. Slowly, she tried to build up the confidence to speak, to at least say _something_.

"I…uh…I…I…"

Hope's weak stuttering was cut off sharply when she was shaken violently and shoved against the wall. She let out a helpless cry of fear and pain as this happened, and became all the more petrified at her mistress got right in her face and she was all but forced to look Quintz in the eye. "Quit with your irritating stammering, girl, and speak up! You know not to test my patience!" Quintz hissed at her, her tone not even raising the slightest bit, making it all the more terrifying. "You heard it all, didn't you, little girl?"

"Y-yes ma'am, Mistress Quintz," Hope said in a soft, submissive tone. There was no point in denying it. Quintz, like most of the other Vampires in the Coven Draconis, was practically a living—for lack of a better word—lie detector. She already knew the truth and lying to her now would only make matters worse. Hope did everything in her power not to look away from her mistress, knowing that she'd be angry if her slave didn't look her directly in the eye when being spoken to, but it was extremely hard.

Quintz's hand shot up and she grabbed Hope around the throat then, applying gentle pressure to it, but still enough to get her point across. "Well then, _slave_, are we going to ever breathe a word of this to _anyone_?" The Vampire's grip tightened just the slightest bit as she said this, clearly emphasizing the word "slave". Hope knew this method of control very well. Quintz was trying to put her slave in her place—to make sure that Hope knew her place and would do as she was told.

Hope shook her head quickly, knowing exactly what Quintz wanted to hear, whimpering slightly at the pain of having her throat pressed on like that. "No, Mistress. I swear I will tell no one what I've heard." Her voice shook and was weak.

Quintz's smile widened at this, knowing she had her slave back under her thumb. She was satisfied with the knowledge that little Hope wouldn't _dare_ defy her. Plus, anyone who knew Quintz Acanthus knew that she loved nothing more than to torment the slaves.

Then, Quintz turned and looked at the girl behind them, Eve, who was still frozen to her spot with fear. "And what of this one?" she addressed Hope while still glaring at Eve, gesturing to the other Lycan with a nod of her head.

"She will say nothing, Lady Quintz. You have my word!" Hope replied quickly.

Quintz turned back to Hope and stared her down. "Good! See that neither of you do!" And with that, Quintz released her grip on Hope's throat with a small shove.

"Yes, M'lady," Hope replied with a respectful bow to her mistress

Hope began to relax just the slightest bit, thinking that maybe they would walk away from this confrontation without being harmed at all, though she dared not show it. Her mistress would take anything she could find as an invitation to hurt her slave. Hope was wrong to think that she'd get away from this unharmed…

"And actually…just to make sure that the both of you _slaves_ know your place and not to speak so out of turn…" And before Hope could defend herself in any way, she found herself on the ground with a loud outcry at Quintz's feet, her lip split and bleeding from the blow by the back of her mistress's hand. Eve started to walk towards them, fully intending to help Hope, and Hope saw her move and instantly knew this. She looked at Evelyn and shook her head, warning her to stay put.

Eve obeyed, whimpering with fear of what was to come.

Hope's attention quickly went back to Quintz, though, as the Vampire began advancing on the poor little slave girl on the ground at her feet. Hope tensed up and pressed herself tightly against the wall, curling up with her knees brought up to her chest, cowering before the woman, breathing and shaking heavily with fear.

Hope shut her eyes tightly, turned her head away and whimpered as she was suddenly faced with her mistress's hand flying towards her again. She awaited her fate, shaking, tensing up in preparation for the pain of that first blow in a severe beating.

"Lady Quintz!"

The voice was like music to Hope's ears. Her eyes flew open and she looked in the direction the voice had come from to, sure enough, find Raven standing in the doorway. Quintz turned to Raven and stood up straight, glaring daggers at the one who _dared_ interrupt her when she was disciplining her slave, Alpha or not.

"What is it?"

"Forgive my intrusion, M'lady," Raven said, for even though she was an Alpha Female Lycan, she was still a slave within the mansion and had to act accordingly, "but may I please be so bold as to inquire what seems to be the matter here?" Raven walked a bit farther into the room, her posture still one of submission, though it was a bit more dominant that that of the other slaves in the mansion.

Even in slavery, Raven had this hint of authority in her voice and just general presence that was quite noticeable and respected, even by the Vampires to a certain degree. They knew Raven was the one in charge of the Lycans and so demanded respect among the slaves, and in turn, they seemed to respect her more than the other slaves.

This was even so for Quintz, who held at least some level of respect for the woman. Although, this was so for different reasons. She didn't care at all who Raven was among the slaves. The only reason she showed her slight respect is because Raven had been there at the Draconis Mansion even longer than Quintz herself had.

And also, Raven was the personal slave of the Coven Mistress, Servina Karavalis. And Servina regarded Raven as a sort of prize pet, seeing as how Raven was an Alpha and all, plus a few other reasons. Quintz couldn't exactly go and cause harm or distress to the Coven Mistress's prize pet now, could she? That would be unthinkable without having obtained Servina's permission first.

Quintz looked coldly from Hope on the ground at her feet to Raven. "Oh, nothing unusual, Raven," she answered the Alpha's question. "Just little Hope here causing problems yet again. Nothing I can't _correct_…"

And, with that, Quintz took a step towards Hope and then just as quickly backed off, doing so simply as a method of intimidation. She didn't want to get right to punishing Hope directly in front of the girl's Alpha. Quintz knew that Raven would probably want to get a few words in to Hope first. Quite frankly, the Vampire enjoyed watching the slaves get into trouble with their Alpha—to watch Raven reprimand them and to think that Raven would punish them later. And, sure enough…

"Please, M'lady…" And then, Raven looked Hope dead in the eye, automatically assuming her Alpha Lycan demeanor with her, her dominant air, taking a few steps toward the girl and crossing her arms in front of her.

"What the hell have you done this time, Hope? What did I just get through telling you just _this morning_ about stepping out of line again, hmm, little girl?"

Hope lowered her head and Raven then turned to Quintz again, satisfied for the moment with Hope's reaction. "Lady Quintz, please. I had warned her about just what I would do the next time I caught her breaking the rules this morning. What has she done? I shall see to her punishment personally for you, if that is what you so wish."

Hopefully, that _would_ be what Quintz wanted to happen.

Quintz glared at her for a moment longer, and then shook her head. "Ask her and find out for yourself, and then deal with her how you will. I am feeling rather generous today, luckily for her, and so shall not punish her myself."

Quintz got right in Raven's face, something you barely ever saw anyone do to the Alpha. "See that it never happens again, do I make myself clear, girl?"

And that was all she said before simply glaring once at all in the room and then leaving, not even waiting for a response from Raven, her boots clacking loudly on the floors as she disappeared down the hall. And with her, all of the tension that had just built up in the room seemed to just fade away.

Hope looked up as Quintz left, letting out a big, relieved breath as Eve came over and offered her hand, helping the other girl to her feet. Hope dusted herself off, straightened her clothes out a bit, and then looked up at her Alpha, who was still staring at her firmly.

"I… I… Thank you, Raven," was all that Hope could say at the moment without getting into trouble, bowing her head and lowering her ears a bit in respect for her Alpha, thinking that she was in serious trouble with Raven yet again.

Raven's gaze softened a bit, knowing that Hope hadn't done anything wrong and that Quintz had probably just been in one of her moods, or else she had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Either way, contrary to what she'd led everyone else to believe for the time being, she _wasn't_ going to punish Hope for anything.

Raven turned to leave. Hope saw this and rushed to her side, touching her arm. Raven needed to hear about what Hope had just overheard. This could, and probably _would_, no doubt, mean a lot to their cause—either in a good way or in a bad way. "Raven, wait! I just overheard something really impor—"

"Later, Hope," Raven interrupted, raising a hand to silence the girl and staring her directly in the eye with a look to automatically let her know that she meant it.

"But—!"

"I said later," and, with that, Raven looked around a bit, leaned in closer to Hope and winked, then added in a lower tone, "at the house." She gave Hope just the slightest hint of a smile, knowing she'd understand what was meant by that.

Sure enough, Hope caught on and returned the smile. She nodded and said, "Yes, Ma'am." Raven nodded back, her smile broadening just the slightest bit, stood up straight and then left the room in her usual confident manner, her very presence, of course, demanding the utmost reverence, as always.

Hope stood there for a moment, smiling. Then, her spirits lifted and her excitement over what she knew was to take place later on over in the Lycan House, she whirled around to face Eve, who still looked shaken up, and, not to mention, now a tad on the confused side. "You gonna be all right, Eve?"

Eve nodded as Hope walked up to her. "C'mon," Hope said, gesturing towards the door with her head, "let's keep moving. We haven't even gotten through with your tour of the mansion." Then, Hope lowered her voice, looked around, leaned close to Eve, and whispered, "We'd better hurry and finish so we can get back to the Lycan House. We have an important event to attend tonight, you know."

And, with that, she winked, all of this much as Raven had done, and turned to head out the door. Eve, smiling as she quickly caught on to what the other Lycan had meant by this, being a rebel Lycan from a rebel pack used to these sort of little secrets and all herself, giggled slightly and followed her out the door.

Hope's enthusiasm was a rare find amongst the Lycans of this time, and Eve, quite frankly, found it to be a rather refreshing change of pace, compared to what she was certainly used to from most of the other Lycans she'd met in her lifetime.

Both girls, however, quickly disposed of any out of the ordinary behaviors or moods as soon as they left that room. They couldn't risk seeming too happy or upbeat at all or anything like that. The last thing any of them wanted was for any of the Vampires to suspect something unusual—and maybe even…rebellious?—going on within the small, dreary world of the Lycan slaves inhabiting Draconis Mansion…

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**A/N:** Huzzah! And so, Chapter 8 arrives!!! . Well, at least it didn't take as long to get this up as I thought it would. It's summer—you'd think I'd be able to get these things up pretty fast. But you also have to account for the dreaded—dun dun duuuuunnnnn—writers block! Dun dun dun! And, not to mention, the stupid computer restrictions… Well, now that I have a wonderful co-author, Ravenclaw (Or RC for short), maybe that will start picking up a bit? Well…probably not. But hey, I'm trying! Well, as always, I hope you're enjoying the story so far. Keep reviewing. I appreciate them a lot! I'll update as soon as I can, everyone! The storyline is just getting off the ground. What could this "event" be? What is Quintz plotting? Read and find out! Bye, guys! .

Diva'sDream


	9. Chpt 9 The Secret Meeting

**Chapter 9: The Secret Meeting**

The night early morning air was cool and refreshing as the two girls walked out the huge front doors of Draconis Mansion and down the steps, finally done with a full night of talking and getting Eve more acquainted with the place and the ones she would be serving from now on. Eve was tired, although Hope just seemed to be getting her energy kicked up. If this is how it was for Eve after a night of simply walking around and learning how things were there, how was she ever going to handle the life of a slave?

Hope smiled brightly as she walked down the steps, even giggling a bit as she twirled around, breathing in the scent of the fresh air, sighing as she leaned her head back a bit to take in the environment around her. She then turned and looked at Eve, smiling, and laughed at seeing Eve staring at her. "Sorry about that," she said, tucking a loose lock of light brown hair behind her ear and twirling around once more out of pure energy. "I just get this way most of the time after being stuck in _there_ all night long."

Eve smiled and laughed at this. "It's okay. I can understand that."

Hope looked at the sky, then at her watch. "8: 35. We should start heading over to the Lycan House. Wouldn't want to be late, right?" She looked at Eve and smiled again.

"Right. What time?" The question was simple and, hopefully, unsuspicious. Eve was certain, however, that Hope knew what the question meant.

"9 'o'clock sharp. Better hurry, before all the good chairs are taken up."

Hope's smile widened at this. She knew what was meant by the question, of course, and it always thrilled her to use those little secrets—the ones that all of Lycans that had to do with any rebellion or resistance knew, but no Vampire had ever heard. Hope wasn't quite sure why, but she just found it such a thrill that she was basically one of the ones sneaking around behind their masters' backs and doing things in secret, with even a few verbal and sometimes even physical codes that only the resistance knew.

Take her last statement in response to Eve's question, for example. It could very well have meant just about anything to a normal person. Most would assume that they were just going to all get together and chat or play games or something, seeing as how everyone knew that Lycan packs were very close-knit. Only those Lycan packs amongst the masses that chose to take part in fighting for their freedom knew the real significance behind this and such simple questions as "what time?"

So, with a nod to each other in understanding, both girls began their short walk to the Lycan house—the slaves' quarters. They knew it'd only take a good five minutes to get their, so they weren't worried really about getting to the House on time. They had plenty of time to get to the House.

The Vampires, most likely, were still awake—the sun had not yet risen, though the sky was just beginning to lighten. All of the Lycans knew that it might be considered suspicious if they were all seen flocking into the house at the same time in a hurry, especially since they were never all dismissed together. The only time they ever did was if someone happened to have started a rumor going around to the Vampires that, after they'd all be released, the Lycans were simply going to all get together to have a little celebration of some kind or have some sort of entertainment going on, like a dance or something like that—they _did_ have these sort of things sometimes, both to take away any suspicions that the Vampires might have and because they may have just _wanted_ to that evening for a fun change of pace.

So, they had their own system, of course—one of the ones that only those slaves, and some on the outside, secretly involved in the resistance knew of. Eve was one of those from the outside who knew, fortunately. The Lycans would start heading down to the slaves' quarters as soon as they had been relieved of their duties for the day. Then, a few people would enter at a time, while the others stayed outside and talked amongst themselves a bit, just to make it seem as if they weren't really in a hurry to get inside for anything, then, as soon as they saw another group of Lycans approaching the building, some of the ones lingering near the house would go inside, and so on, until finally all of the Lycan slaves were inside of the House and an event had begun.

They somehow knew how to time everything so that they were all inside in time and to make their system not look at all suspicious—no one even really noticed anything systematic about it at all, unless they were carrying out the plan, even when a Vampire happened to be in the area while it was still mostly dark and glance at them heading in—but Hope just didn't want to be late and be seen rushing into the house, since she and Eve still wanted time to get there and change into clothes and things more themselves and not something they were forced to wear—the slaves could dress however and do whatever they wished, within reason, outside of the mansion. So, this was, of course, being carried out when Hope and Eve came upon the Lycans' quarters, and so they followed this system and were inside of the building with plenty of time to spare.

The two girls walked into the Lycans' Quarters, immediately going into their room to change into their normal clothes—the ones they _liked_ and, usually, grew up wearing. They weren't worried about the time—they still had a good 15 minutes or so to get settled. Hope liked dressing sort of punk-ish and didn't usually worry too much about her appearance. An awesome long black skirt and rock band t-shirt and the usual accessories like tights and things and some eyeliner later and she was ready to go. And Eve, of course, didn't really take too long to change into some jeans and a blouse.

"You good?" Eve asked her when she came out of their bathroom and into the room, smiling as always.

"Yep! You?"

"Yeah."

"Ok, then. Let's go plot and scheme!" Hope said this with a sly smile and a very apparent attitude, making the "rock on" sign with her hands and then sticking out her tongue—your typical punk-rock chick. Both girls laughed and then headed out of their room and down the hall, proceeding immediately to the living room area of the slave house.

The room was a little cramped with all the people in their, but all in all, it was a pretty relaxed environment as always. There were chairs and couches here and there and coffee tables and such, maybe a bookshelf or two somewhere, and a little fireplace against the far wall. The room wasn't really in the best condition—much like the rest of the shabby old building housing the Draconis Mansion slaves—but it was livable.

Hope and Eve walked into the room, Eve remaining silent and sticking close to the other girl seeing as how she was still knew and didn't know anyone, and Hope smiling and greeting people and such and just seeming to have an all-over good time. Eve looked around the room to see what was going on and to get an idea of how she would be living and the people she would be living with and such. Other than the condition of her living space, she liked what she saw, all in all. The rest of the pack looked friendly enough. Eve was confident that she would have no trouble getting accustomed to her new life amongst the Lycan pack at this mansion. The environment surrounding her at the moment was relaxed and actually somewhat cheerful. She was very easy to get along with and, luckily, she could easily pick out which of the pack members about her was above her in rank and which she didn't have to show quite as much of the utmost respect to. Yes, she should have no problems here; Eve didn't doubt that.

As they walked through the room, Hope paused every now and then to greet people or ask how they are and how things are going or goings on about the mansion and things like that. A large group sitting around a coffee table asked Hope if she wanted to join them in a game of poker, but Hope declined politely and joked with them, saying, "You'd get your asses handed to you if I played, anyway, and you all know it". The people laughed, actually agreeing with her and then, they moved on. Obviously, Eve figured, she was good at poker, since the others were quick to oblige when she brought that up.

Eve and Hope caught little pieces of the conversations going on around them, but didn't really listen in on most of them. A lot of them were general things, although some of the conversations were pretty interesting to overhear and then maybe add to a bit. Small things that had to do with making fun of some of the Vampires—_especially_ Quintz and Sythera, who seemed to be the unanimous most hated of all of them—or certain situations that needed attention in the house.

The best comment of the night: "…It's called a _hobby_, for God's sake! She needs to learn to get one and leave us be!" And_ that_ was coming from her own slave—an Australian woman named Artemis (but call her anything but Missy and you die) who could be a complete heartless bitch when she wanted to be. Which, admittedly, she usually _was_ until you got to know her really well, unless she had her baby, Leo, around. The only baby amongst the slaves, and it belonged to the one with the worst temper of all of them.

And then the best comment came from Hope, of course, as she was walking by and heard that comment being said: "Ugh…yeah, _someone_ _really_ needs to get laid…" The whole area, of course, erupted in laughter and got quite a few declines to take on the job. Then, Hope and Eve went on to find their seats.

Hope led Eve to a few empty seats in one area of the living room and took a seat in a comfortable rocking chair herself, wasting no time at all in curling up in it and settling in. Eve sat down in an armchair near her and continued to observe her surroundings. She smiled at the activity going on around her.

Someone somewhere was playing a stereo with random music playing—mostly whatever was on the radio unless someone had a CD and a request. Even the older members of the pack didn't mind this, though, no matter if that was their personal preference for a type of music or not. People were just sitting or standing around and relaxing, for the most part. Some of the pack members were eating, some were reading quietly and waiting for the meeting to begin or playing board games or card games and the like with friends, some were sitting listening to CD players and stuff and waiting quietly for the meeting to begin, and most were just chatting and laughing like nothing out of the ordinary was going on. The closeness of the group could be felt clearly with how high in spirits everyone seemed to be—a very nice change from the feeling of dread just leaking from the Draconis Mansion merely a five-minute walk away.

They were both looking around and smiling, happy to be there amongst friends and trusted pack members. A song started up and Hope instantly got excited—it was one of her favorites. "Hell yeah!" she said and nodded her head and moved to the music, singing the words under her breath as they listened.

"Hey, Hope! C'mon and give us a show!" Someone near the stereo shouted. Obviously, either the song was planned since Hope was here, or it was coincidental and they just automatically tagged her for it. Either way, Eve automatically knew that Hope was a performer. And, based on several peoples' reactions as soon as this was said—pretty much the entire room stopped and began cheering and trying to get her to do it, some begging or trying to bribe her to—she was _really_ good.

"No thanks! Not tonight, guys; maybe some other time!" Hope called out, remaining curled up in her rocking chair.

"Awwww! C'mon!" the girl called, and several people began to beg her to and cheer her on, all while she laughed and blushed slightly. "Pleeeeeease, Hope?"

"There's not enough time. Raven's gonna be here any second. Look, later, Viv, I promise!" The girl, Vivian, decided to take her rain check and nodded. Hope smiled and sat back in her chair, and just in time, too.

Then, suddenly, a calm silence began to quickly fall over all in the room as everyone realized that Raven had arrived, the music stopping and everyone's activity beginning to gradually calm down and then cease. This was nothing like the silence that befell the slaves in the mansion, a tense and nervous silence. This was relaxed and calming and warm, and above all else, respectful as soon as their Alpha had entered the room, for she commanded nothing less and the other members of the pack were all but happy to give her the respect she so demanded and deserved.

People put their games and things away, or at the very least left them alone for the time being if they wanted to continue with their activities after the meeting, and took their seats if they so wished—some on the floor for either the reason that all sitting space was now occupied, and some for no reason other than they simply liked it, though still some remained standing or leaning against the wall or a couch or something like that—and turned to look at their Alpha, though they were still obviously allowed to make themselves comfortable, lounging around lazily, some laying down on the floors or against others on their laps or shoulders or what have you. This was all just fine, just as long as they were quiet, courteous, and paying attention to the matters at hand.

Raven looked around the room, making sure she had everyone's attention. She'd better, or the one whose attention she _didn't_ have would regret it _very_ quickly. Luckily, she did. "Alright," the Alpha began, "you all know why we're here this morning. We have some important matters to discuss about situations within the mansion and outside these walls. We need to all be kept informed for this rebellion to work."

Hope listened to every word Raven said, paying complete attention to her, all the while with a bright smile on her face. Hope was very excited to be amongst the resistance core, as she normally was. The thrill of it all overtook her and she was very eager to participate in this and any rebel activity. Although, she did tend to do so quietly, for she would voice an opinion every now and then, but for the most part, she didn't know quite how to act around those leading the resistance. So, she was usually one of the ones hiding in the background, occasionally adding her opinion to the conversations and such. One thing was for sure, though: her spirit and charisma for the whole thing was inspiring to most of the others around her. Her determination and eagerness to help was moving to the others.

Eve, on the other hand, was calm and quiet, having obviously done this sort of thing before, and probably led it, for all the people in this place knew.

"You all know the drill: I'll call on who is to speak and everyone else is to remain silent and listen to what that person has to say. I do not want anyone shouting or anyone speaking out of turn or any of you all speaking at once. Everyone will get a chance to speak if they so wish and if someone has some news to share that I do not currently know of, don't hesitate to let me know and we will get to you as soon as we can. Am I understood, everyone?" Raven's voice was powerful and commanding, and everyone was quick to nod in agreement.

"Good." And so, without wasting any more time, the secret meeting began.

"Alright, then. First order of business: As you all know by now, I am sure, the elders from the other covens, as well as Draconis's sister coven, Sartyrsetis, shall all be arriving promptly at dusk on June 15th to witness the awakening. The ceremony will be held the day after, on the 16th and so most of the guests are staying in random other places they have set up for them, but a lot are staying at the mansion." There was a low murmuring of people whispering to each other quietly about this. Raven simply ignored it and went on.

"Keep on your toes when they get there and, as always, expect anything. We don't know what any of the new ones in the coven are like, although there have been rumors that they are beginning to rival Draconis in character. Be aware of your situations, everyone—especially those who are knew to this and don't yet know how things are around these times. We wouldn't want anyone here getting hurt if we can prevent it. Clear?"

People all around nodded in agreement, and some voiced theirs. Raven saw this and then turned and looked at a woman standing against a wall—a slim woman, Indian, as was apparent by her sari, who had a definite air of dominance about her, except towards Raven and very few others. Clearly, she was high up in the order of this pack. Raven nodded and said, "Jahanara. I believe you had some information to share with us?"

"Yes, Raven," the woman said, standing up straight. Everyone in the room turned to look at her, paying direct attention to the woman. She looked around the room for a second, making sure she had everyone's attention, and then began. "I have—shall we say—'accidentally' overheard a conversation between Servina and Jelena about security around this time. They have doubled the security all around the mansion as of tonight. Guards are constantly on patrol around the mansion and, as always, they've stocked up on more guard dogs. All those carrying out duties as security have been given specific orders to be merciless on anyone caught doing any prohibited activities and on anyone within the mansion grounds without permission. They are all well armed with their usual guns—the ones filled with those damned silver nitrate bullets, as well as the usual knives and what-have-you." Again, all of this information sparked a small rumble of whispering voices about the room. Jahanara waited for the talking to subside before continuing.

"If I may, Raven, it is my opinion that we should all be extra careful because of this. They will not hesitate to try and find any reason whatsoever to harass or harm us. These people are especially ruthless around this time and so we need to be on our guard. And if the situation were to occur, I believe we should just treat it as normal and try not to react too much. It'll all be over soon enough and I think everyone within this room should know how to handle harassment by the Vampires by now, am I right?" Jahanara paused a moment and looked around to see that everyone agreed with her, and they did.

"Oh joy, so then we've moved from a minimum security prison to a _maximum_ security prison around here?" A man sitting next to Artemis, his arm wrapped around her, said sarcastically. This is Adaro, Artemis's boyfriend and, as luck would have it, older brother to Sythera Damonico. And yes, he _is_ a Lycan slave. Ironic, isn't it? Sythera is one of the worst Vampires in Coven Draconis, a Death Dealer, and her brother is a Lycan.

A few snickered at his comment, seeing the joke but also the irony of what he was saying really being true, in a way. "Well, tha's basic'ly anothah way ta put it…" A woman in one of the arm chairs said in her usual, _very_ thick, cockney accent, twirling a finger around her messy short blond hair. She was a very tough-looking woman wearing a patch where her left eye should be, which she lost in a battle along with her left leg (although, since she usually wears pants, the only indication of her missing leg is a bad limp unless you ever see the metal bar replacing it). Although, let's not forget that looks can be deceiving. The woman wore a bright smile, which was common for her, and actually was known to have more spirit than Hope did at time.

Adaro chuckled and looked at her. "Thanks for backing me up, Maggie." Maggie nodded and smiled at him, and they both laughed a bit, as did quite a few others around them. Jahanara chuckled a bit also under her breath and waited a moment before finishing up with what she felt needed to tell everyone.

"And also, we shall have to be extra cautious of any activity going on outside of the mansion, if not cease it for now. I believe it would be too dangerous for any of us to leave the grounds at all, unless with permission."

At this point, of course, she paused and she, as well as pretty much everyone else, looked right at Hope, which made the girl shrink back in her chair and blush in slight embarrassment. They all knew that if anyone were to sneak out of the mansion, it would be her. At this, some giggled under their breaths.

After a moment, though, Raven called all attention back to the meeting and continued with the task at hand. "Damos?"

A man stood up from his chair and cleared his throat. "Well, the only thing I have to add isn't exactly of all that much importance, but it still may be good for us to know. Well, as may have been apparent from Sythera's extremely bad temper as of late and by Strevin's injuries from the other night—not to mention the numerous little arguments they've gotten into lately—the both of them have gotten into another physical altercation, probably down in the weapons room as normal. You know, at this rate, Raven," he almost laughed, looking at her, "we may not even have to worry about those two particular Death Dealers. They may very well eliminate themselves, sooner or later, with how these fights are going and how often they are!"

Many Lycans laughed at this and talked a bit amongst themselves, but quickly quieted down. "And even if one just kills the other, at least one Death Dealer down is an improvement, right?" one man on one of the couches said. People agreed, as usual.

A young woman next to him, then, smiled mischievously and then slipped off the couch and got on her knees on the floor, folding her hands together in mock prayer and looking up towards the heavens. "Dear Lord, hear our prayers and _please_ let it be Sythera who gets offed here should the event occur." People laughed at this a bit, of course.

And then, of course, Artemis just _had_ to add to _that_ comment. Shooting bolt upright in her seat, she raised her hand and exclaimed loudly, wearing her usual mocking smile she used with these types of conversations, "I second that prayer whole-heartedly!"

Everyone laughed more still at that, even Raven a bit, many nodding and voicing agreement to that statement and chatting a bit amongst themselves about the new topic, and then everything quieted and then continued after a bit.

"Anything else, Damos?" Raven asked. He shook his head and sat back down.

"No, Ma'am. That's about it."

"Alright, then. Well, as usual, Servina will be doing scheduled meditations in order to prepare for the ceremony. The usual mystic will, of course, be coming to help her to prepare her mind for this. For those of you who don't know the usual routines yet, you do not have to worry about this mystic as long as you do not get in her way or cross her. I assume the same woman as always is arriving, and if so, she is usually very calm and does not go looking for confrontations with us, whether she likes us or not. She isn't quite like the other Vampires of the coven, but she also does not like Lycans, of course. So, just do not give her a reason to be angry with you, and she won't."

"Hurray, the alien is coming…" a young woman sitting on one couch, a Gypsy girl with auburn hair and emerald-green eyes, said with a roll of her eyes, her Russian accent giving away her origins fairly quickly. Obviously, Nadya does _not_ like usual mystic. Not surprising, really. Nadya was a very sweet woman, but does have limits of just how much she'll take from one person. And, as the mystic found out, she doesn't much care for taking orders from someone she doesn't know, Vampire or not, and she'll definitely let you know it if she isn't happy about something.

"Yes, well, sorry Nadya, but it looks like you'll have to just do the best you can with her," Raven told the woman, her expression becoming just the slightest bit more stern in order to let Nadya know that she was serious. Nadya nodded in understanding and then Raven added a small, "And as usual, the Vampires will want the mansion spotless for the arrival of the others and for the upcoming ceremony," knowing that this statement was obvious to most of them and that she didn't really need to lecture about it, and then looked around a bit, her gaze finally settling upon Hope. Hope looked at her and knew it was her turn to speak. Raven nodded in her direction. "Hope? I believe you have something that you wanted to tell me?" At this, everyone in the room quieted down and the dull roar of whispers and murmurs died once more as every Lycan there turned and looked at Hope, giving her their full, undivided attention.

Hope's face flushed just the slightest bit and she stood up. She never _was_ very good with public speaking and hated when everyone stared at her. This was actually rather ironic, considering how much she loved to perform on stage. She was visibly a little nervous, having every eye on her at the moment.

Hope cleared her throat and looked around, taking a slightly shaky deep breath before beginning, "Well, I was showing our new member here, Eve," she gestured to Eve, "around the mansion today—the usual deal. You all know how that one goes. Anyway, we went into the library so she could see that room. We were about to leave the room, when suddenly I heard voices down the hall, arguing and approaching the room fast. I knew automatically that one of them was Quintz.

"They were heading to the library and we had no time to get out of the room. Of course, I didn't want us being seen and this argument seemed a bit odd to me and I wanted to hear more, so I pulled Eve and myself behind a bookcase to hide. They came into the room and began to argue. That is, Quintz and one of the other Death Dealers. I believe that Quintz had called her…Mel?" Hope briefly looked at Eve for confirmation, who paused for a second in thought and then nodded in agreement.

"When they were coming to the room, I heard Quintz accusing this other woman of 'chickening out on her'. Then, when they came in, the argument got quite interesting. I specifically heard them speaking of planning _something_ at the upcoming ceremony. They were saying something about wanting someone out of the way. The other woman wasn't sure if the plan was such a good idea because of the tight security and all. Whoever they were talking about must be pretty powerful, by how they made the person—or person_s_, I think—sound, talking about how they'd both be bled dry if they were caught.

Quintz was talking about how no one would be able to stop them, even if anyone _wanted_ to, in what they were doing. And she said that she didn't think anyone would object, anyway, since pretty much no one wanted the people around in the first place. The other woman agreed that the people don't have that many supporters and then left after Quintz threatened her, as usual." Hope rolled her eyes a bit at that, finally letting some of her emotion be seen, even though it was her usual mocking one about Quintz.

"Well, the rest isn't that important. Basically, Quintz is a bit more perceptive than I thought and found out that we were there. Luckily for us, though, Raven saved us. Or…rather saved _me_, probably, since Quintz was probably gonna leave Eve alone and go after me, for obvious reasons."

Hope paused for a moment and thought of what to say before continuing, everyone else in the room in shocked silence at the new information for the moment, having given off surprised reactions when she was speaking—the occasional gasp and wide eyes. "The point is this: Quintz and that other woman want _someone_ out of the way, and they are using the Blood Sight Ceremony to accomplish this goal.

"Now, I didn't hear enough to directly link anyone as a target. Nothing that was said was incriminating enough. Although, if I had to take a guess, if I may put in my opinion on the situation, Raven," she looked at Raven, then, who nodded, "I would probably have to say that, to me, the most logical targets would have to be…Servina and her husband."

With a small shrug, Hope finished up her speech by saying, "It's just my opinion, but that's what, to me, makes the most sense in this new little puzzle we seem to have ourselves here. To me, that just seems to fit the best."

With a nod to Raven, who looked deep in thought, to let the Alpha know that she was finished, Hope sat back down in her rocking chair and curled up again, actually glad that it was over and that not everyone was staring at her now. By then, of course, everyone had begun whispering and talking softly amongst themselves, most wondering how this new information was going to tie in with the revolution already well at hand.

Raven soon quieted them, raising her hands up to speak. Everyone became quiet and looked at her. "Listen everyone; I know that this may confuse some of you. We don't yet know the situation just now presenting itself. But, this could just be an opportunity for us, you know. If Quintz wants someone out of the way and no one stops her, well then that's just one or two more Vampires that we do not have to worry ourselves about. And if her targets happen to be Servina and her husband and Quintz succeeds, well then that makes our goal all the more reachable. We'd be killing two birds with one stone, in a way—Quintz would get important and, no doubt, powerful people out of our way and her plot will certainly help to mask this revolt."

Raven scoffed a bit and a small smile crossed her face. "And if the targets _are_ who we think they are, then they are the birds in this metaphor, my friends, and _Quintz_, whether she realizes it or not, is the stone." Several people laughed or smiled at this as well, realizing Raven's point. "Victory is becoming ever closer. I can just smell it now. I believe we have a chance at winning this… Now, as you all probably have figured out by now, there are rebels outside these walls more than willing to aid us to victory and are planning to help us. I will, of course, be contacting the Silvers to tell them of the events of this meeting. Their help is crucial to our success at this point."

The Silvers were the rebels of which Raven was speaking, mainly, not counting several smaller groups she had connections with who planned to help with their cause. The Silvers were led by the great Lirit Silvermoon, possibly Coven Draconis's greatest threat. Everyone knew that the Vampires, especially of this coven, would stop at nothing to bring him down, but all of the Lycans involved in this rebellion were completely confident in Lirit's abilities. He was a great leader and, with his help, the Lycans would surely triumph and they would be free.

And so, the meeting ended. "Now everyone," Raven concluded, "I believe that we've just about covered everything. You may all go about your business as you see fit. I'll tell you what, though: For those of you who wish to remain here and finish up with whatever it is you're doing, you may have a little bit of a party in here if you wish. You all know the rules—keep it respectable and semi-quiet for those who wish to get some rest, and if it gets out of hand, I will know and put an end to the festivities. Although, I am sure I will _not _have to worry about that, as usual around here. Other than that, everyone, relax and enjoy the rest of your day. We have a busy time ahead of us come the ceremony time."

And, with that, Raven went and sat down in a chair near the fireplace, close to where she'd been standing this whole time, and watched on for a bit as people went about their normal routines and such, may staying around the living room area to chat and socialize, or finish with their games or whatever it was that they had been doing.

Hope turned and looked at Eve. "So, what do you wanna do, Eve?" The other woman shrugged and looked around a bit. Hope thought for a moment, "Well, why don't we stay here for a bit, then? I'll introduce you to some people and get you better acquainted with the pack." Eve agreed to this and so, that's what they did, remaining in the living room area and socializing, playing a game here and there, and Hope even took Vivian up on her request, singing and dancing while almost everyone watched. (Although, oddly enough, Hope didn't mind the audience when she was performing. It was only speaking in front of a large crowd that made her nervous).

It was a happy time and everyone had a lot of fun. Eve began to feel comfortable in her new surroundings in no time and knew, at that point, that her new life here at the Draconis Mansion may actually be livable for her. Well…at least amongst the safety of the slaves' quarters. Life inside the mansion was still up for debate. However, Evelyn was sure that she could manage…somehow.

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**A/N: **Woot woot! And so arrives Chapter 9! Huzzah! _(Cue big celebration here)_ I'm actually quite pleased that I got done with his one so fast. It looks like my writers block may just have ended._ (Knocks on wood so I don't jinx myself YET AGAIN_) Again, thanks to my co-author, RC and keep R&R-ing! You guys are all great! I'll update soon and I hope you enjoyed Chapter 9. We're all a bunch of sneaky little Lycans, aren't we? . Heehee! Viva le resistance! Bye!


	10. Chpt 10 I Care About You, Hope

Chapter 10

**Chapter 10: I Care About You, Hope**

And so began that very stressful period of time when the Ceremony began to draw near. Yes, it wasn't for another two months, but that meant little to everyone in Draconis Mansion. The stress began early on and stayed until the Ceremony's end. This was the time where all of the slaves were running around cleaning, taking random orders from their overlords and owners—who were generally more irritable than usual for some odd reason, although some were just more stressful because not all of the Draconis Vampires got along with all of the Sartyrsetis Vampires—and doing their usual tasks on top of that while all the while trying their best to keep their noses clean. They knew full well that discipline was stricter around this time than usual because Servina would _not_ tolerate any issues with slaves misbehaving and making her look bad in front of the sister coven.

The slaves were generally more irritable as well. However, they all knew how to hide such emotions until safely in their own quarters or such, for the most part. And, unlike the Vampires, they seemed to better know how to take out their frustrations on _inanimate_ objects, rather than other Lycans. They may be getting restless and irritable over things more than usual, but they knew how to be discrete about it and to not let it get to them so much to a point where others were suffering because of their emotions. Besides, most of the time, their emotions had to take a back seat to their usual lives anyway. Especially around now, when focus was essential and there was much going on to gossip and talk of.

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Gossip and rumors circulated throughout the small world of the slaves. Raven seemed to not be present as often. These random and often disappearances sparked quite a few theories and rumors to go around the slaves' quarters during the day, and _only_ in the slaves' quarters. None of these types of conversations ever went beyond that building. The Lycans couldn't risk the Vampires finding out about Raven's absences and becoming suspicious of something going on with their slaves.

"No way! She's a respected Alpha! There is _so _no way she's sneaking out the meet any secret lover or whatever the hell it is that you're talking about! She isn't the type to do something like that, _especially_ when her full attention is needed elsewhere."

"Well, any way you look at it, I'm telling you, she's been leaving the mansion grounds completely, like Hope does. She's been going passed the walls and out into the city at all hours of the day," would be the normal gossip going on in the Lycans' parlor room in the slave house. The conversation would begin and one would make a comment such as this. Then, the assumptions would begin to spread throughout the house.

That is, along with the usual accusing question: It's understandable for Hope, because Raven probably warned her _not_ to speak of her ways of obtaining her small amounts of freedom to _anyone_ else (which, be reminded, Raven was the one to show her). But…if Raven knows a way to get into the city and _out_ of the Draconis Mansion, then why doesn't she just help everyone to escape so that they can join the rebellion from outside their prison and, at least, _possibly_ be forever free of their enslavement?

"She's gone out to search for more reinforcements for the rebellion, Lycans from neighboring covens or from the streets. Maybe she thinks we are still in need of more Lycans to help us fight." This was one of the normal theories going around.

"Why doesn't she just get us out of this hell-hole, if she knows the way out herself?" would then come the tortured question, usually asked by one of the younger pups.

"I don't know. She has her reasons; I'm sure of it. And no, we have enough reinforcements already. She went to go and get weapons. We still need more weapons, don't we?" spoke another of the slaves.

Still another said, "Unless they involve ultraviolet light, what good will weapons do? She's gone to speak with the rebels that are helping us already. That's the reason she's been disappearing. She's going out to make sure everything is in order and to give or receive any information necessary to the revolt."

Usually, this was the accepted theory. No one really knew for sure what was happening. None were brave enough to inquire about it, save for Raven's second-in-command in the pack, Elias. He would be the only one to get suspicious and brave enough to question the Alpha. Elias was the one left in charge if Raven couldn't be found. And it is pretty easy to see why this is so.

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Elias Winterbourne was a man emanating a definite air of dominance about him, except, of course, around his Alpha. He, along with Raven, is the personal slave and "prized pet" of the coven's headmistress, Servina Karavalis. His grey eyes were piercing and held anyone's attention very well, and the messy black hair and pale white skin made him seem less social than he actually was. He wasn't extremely tall, standing at only about 5'7"—57 years in age, although he only looks to be 27—but what he lacked in height, he certainly made up for in spirit.

He's a man who has been through quite a lot, being captured and then going through several failed escape attempts before finally accepting his situation, but has managed to cling to a free spirit despite all of this. He's serious and dominant enough to be second-in-command, as tough has you'd expect from an ex-biker; however, don't let this fool you. He's also known for being a bit of a jokester and he's usually very laid back and quite pleasant to talk to actually. He used to get into fights, but this has died down a lot after everyone else got used to the idea of his position in the pack. Although, when it comes to the revolution, the man is serious as a heart attack.

Elias was the only one among them who would even dare to question his Alpha. He would often ask her questions as she was walking past or whenever they were in the same room together. Usual, he only did so when he felt something was off.

"Hey, Raven?" Elias said quietly to get the Alpha's attention as he noticed that some other Lycans were leaving the Lycan house after just such a debate. "The others have been talking lately, you know."

At hearing her name, Raven stopped and turned to her second. As the question presented itself in that subtle way that it had, for Raven knew exactly where Elias was going with this statement, the Alpha Lycan emitted a small sigh and looked Elias straight in the eye. "Look, Elias, you trust me, don't you?"

"Yes, but even _I've_ noticed it. You're showing up smelling like dirt and grass. Not to mention diesel fumes and fast food—"

"They say I've been going out into the city."

"Yes, and—"

"And that, if I'm going into the city myself, then why can't I just show them the way out of this place for good, right?"

"Well…yes, but—"

"Elias, you trust me," she said, placing both hands on his shoulders. It was a friendly gesture that no other Lycan ever received. "Tell the others to do the same…"

He could do nothing but nod at this and watch as she did the same and walked away, giving him a friendly pat on the shoulder before walking out. He knew not to push the matter any further than that. Elias didn't want to go starting any trouble with his Alpha or fight with her. As frustrating as it was, he could do no more at the moment. In the back of his mind, he knew she could give him a better answer than that, but that she just couldn't afford to at the moment.

As the Alpha vanished from sight out the door of the Lycans' quarters, Elias emitted a frustrated sigh and slumped his shoulders a bit. "Whatever you say, Raven," he muttered to himself under his breath for no apparent reason and to no one. Then, he left the safety of the slave house as well to go and take care of his duties about the mansion.

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Eve and Hope were talking more now, becoming closer as friends. Eve had been there for about a month by then, but had secured a place within the pack already. They talked almost all the time, following each other around to do chores together, as a lot of friends in the mansion often did. Then again, not many of the younger slaves ever wanted to be by themselves in the mansion. If you'd found one girl, chances are, you would find the other. And, more than likely, you'd also find Anora amongst them.

They'd talk about many things when given the opportunity. The only time they were really quiet, normally, is when they were in the mansion around Vampires. And even just in the mansion in general, they'd either be silent or whisper and they were always cautious of the types of conversations that came into play whenever in the mansion. Wouldn't want the wrong Vampire to overhear the wrong thing now.

Eve would often say to Hope how glad she was to have her as a friend, and how she felt connected to Hope. She would often act almost as a sister or family member would towards her friend. She'd be extremely worried whenever Hope was injured or in trouble and would try her best to get the girl out of it if the latter were the case, despite protests from Hope. And whenever Hope was upset and Anora couldn't be there, Eve would always make it all better. Hope just figured it was because Eve considered her such a close friend. After all, Annie would do the same for the most part, and often did, although not to the extent, sometimes, that Eve did.

Hope thought nothing of it. To her, Eve was just an over-protected and caring friend. Although, she _did_ find it a bit odd when she overheard Eve talking to one of the other Lycans that day and heard her saying, "She should be more careful, you know. I'd hate it if anything happened to her. She's a special person. She's very important to me and I'd never want to lose her."

The conversation kept on like that until finally, the other slave had left. Hope took that opportunity to investigate a bit. She walked into the room after the other girl had left. Eve's face took on a bright smile at seeing her. "Hello, Hope!" she exclaimed brightly, holding out her arms for a friendly hug. Hope received it and then looked at her.

"Hey, Eve?"

"Yes, dear?" replied the other woman.

"I just kinda overheard you talking to Sandy about me and I'm just a bit curious. What did you mean by all that stuff you said to her about me?"

Eve looked a bit confused for a second, and then she understood and nodded, mouthing the word "oh". "Oh that?" she asked, to which Hope nodded her head in reply. "All I meant by it was simply that you're very close to my heart. You are very dear to me. I care about you, Hope." With that, Eve went to hug Hope.

Hope, on the other hand, being the very untrusting person she was normally, wasn't quite so quick to accept the hug.

"Whoa! Whoa!" she said quickly, holding up her hands. "Now wait just a second there!" She took a step back. "What do you mean 'you are very dear to me'? We just met like two weeks ago! You couldn't possibly have grown _that _fond of me in so little time!" In all honesty, because of this fact, she was thinking the Eve _was_ that fond of her, just maybe more so than in a friendly way. That's partially why she was so freaked out. It sounded _a lot_ to her like Eve liked her a bit _too_ much and not as a friend…

"Relax, Hope! What's the matter? All I said was that I care about you!"

"How can you care so much about someone you just met?"

"Listen, Hope. I—" Eve started, taking a few steps towards the girl, but Hope would have none of that and backed away.

"Okay, don't touch me for now, alright?" Hope said, putting her hands up in a defensive way once more and backing up.

"Hope, you're overreacting, dear—"

"Oh! Overreacting, am I? Well, please enlighten me as to what I'm _supposed_ to think, then, about someone who just met me and is already claiming to basically share an unbreakable bond with me that I just don't see yet!" Hope, by now, was growing frustrated and increasingly uncomfortable with the situation. She stood her ground now, however, arms crossed and glaring a bit, and her tone definitely reflected her agitation.

Eve sighed, exasperated, and continued to try and reason with Hope, her tone becoming more irritated by the minute. "Okay, listen, Hope. Don't get mad at _me_ simply because I happen to _care_ for you! I don't know where _you _learned it, but where _I'm_ from, being cared for by someone is a _good _thing!"

"Well excuse me if I find it just a tad suspicious that someone who barely knows me expresses such interest in my well-being all of a sudden!" Hope countered.

Eve's patience was beginning to run out. "Hope, will you just calm down, please?!"

"Oh, you want me to calm down? Fine! I'll go do that. And _you_ just leave me alone, got it?!" And, with that, Hope stormed out of the room.

Eve, exasperated by the exchange and somewhat wondering what'd just happened, went about her business cleaning and whatnot before any Vampire who might've overheard their dispute came and discovered her not doing anything. The ceremony was close at hand, so this was definitely not the best time to be caught slacking off. It especially wouldn't end well for her if a Vampire were to lose their temper at her now. She sighed, a bit upset over what had just happened. She hoped this wouldn't ruin her relationship with the other girl and that Hope would come to her senses soon enough and make up.

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Hope had moved on into the library, still fuming mad. Good thing there were no Vampires around. They'd see that attitude and surely pester her about it, most likely ending in a beating for Hope. She was trying her best to calm her thoughts down. They were racing and confused through her anger. Hope never was the best at controlling her emotions, unless with a Vampire present.

"Hope? You okay?"

Hope whirled around to find Anora in the doorway, looking at her with obvious concern. They were so close, she could sense any negative emotions Hope might have at the time from a mile away, practically. Anora quietly walked over to her friend, placing a gentle hand on the other girl's shoulder.

"Look, I really don't wanna talk about it right now, okay, Annie?" Hope replied with a small sigh, avoiding eye contact as she often did when upset by something.

Anora knew that, when she got like this, there was pretty much no getting through to Hope. She nodded in understanding, despite her growing concern for her best friend. "Okay," she said. "If you're sure, Hope."

Hope nodded that she was, receiving another nod of understanding from Anora. And with that, not another word on the subject being spoken, both girls took to their duties of continuing to prepare the mansion for the upcoming ceremony, a bit more silent and gloomier than the girls normally were.

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**A/N: **FINALLY! Chapter 10! I am SO sorry for not updating this one in so long! School started last month and so I've been busy with that and plus some issues going on at the moment. Plus, I JINXED MYSELF AGAIN!! GAAAHHHH!! _(Cue banging head on wall here—"Angst! Angst! Angst!")_ Well, anyways...enjoy chapter 10! The situation between Eve and Hope is getting pretty interesting, huh? Well, see ya next time, readers! Viva le resistance!


	11. Chpt 11 Shopping

Maybe they even have an argument about it without reconciling till near the end

**Chapter 11: Shopping**

It had been an hour of cleaning and they had long since finished with the library, though they did so in almost complete silence—something very unusual for the two of them. Usually, if you get Anora and Hope together in the same room, they chat up a storm and laugh and goof around a bit up until one of the lords or ladies of the house arrives and shrieks at them to "shut up and get back to work". (They usually had never even ceased working in the first place when being told this.)

Nevertheless, they were finished now and had moved on to the entrance foyer. They weren't sure if anything needed doing right now, but they figured they'd check anyway, just to make sure. (Although, obviously, they silently hoped that there was nothing for them to do for the moment. Maybe they'd get an easy evening?)

No such luck.

As soon as they'd arrived in the room, they noticed Merissa cleaning the windows. Sure, they hadn't been told—or even asked—to help her out, but neither one of them wanted to just leave her to do this by herself. It wasn't a very big task, but she was a friend, and so they offered to help. Merissa accepted their offer gladly. By the looks of it, she'd just started—she'd only done one window so far. She hadn't been in the room for very long. Hope and Anora may have wanted a break, but they didn't mind this time.

So, they began to wash the rest of the windows. Having another person in the conversation lifted up spirits a bit more. Hope was being a bit more talkative than she had been since meeting up with Anora. She was smiling and laughing a bit more. And no one else was in the room—Vampire or Lycan. That probably helped a little bit, too. Not many people around for the three girls to be aware—or wary—of.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

The job only took them about half an hour. True, they could've been done way faster than that. After all, it was only washing windows. Then again, they _did_ have some pretty tall windows, especially in that room—the showoffs—and the girls wanted to make sure they did a good job of it. It'd be their hides if they didn't.

They were on their last view windows by then. It'd only take them another minute or so, probably, to be done. Hope, Anora, and Merissa were entertaining themselves with a bit of conversation. Where was the harm in it? They weren't talking very loudly—actually they were being quite quiet for them—and there weren't any Vampires in the room, so no one would really care if a couple of the slaves held a conversation as they worked. ("Hey, at least we _are_ working, right?") As long as the conversation was not a cause for suspicion, that is. But the three Lycan girls were just fine. Their talk had nothing to do with anything that might make a Vampire take notice of them. Unless, of course, the Vampire became interested in their meaningless gossip for some reason, that is.

"…Alright, I'll admit that he _is_ rather attractive, but that's all I have to admit to. I just don't see him in that way," Merissa defended herself against the usual team interrogation that Hope and Anora usually bugged her with, blushing slightly.

Anora and Hope chuckled softly, Anora giving Hope a five behind their backs at catching her again. "Oh right," Hope said, unconvinced. Anora merely stared at her for a second with her hands on her hips and an eyebrow raised in a way that pretty much said, "Right, and I'm the Queen of England." Merissa hadn't once stopped with her cleaning and hadn't even so much as glanced up at the two girls since the conversation began to drift towards Alex, usually a dead give-away for her that she was hiding something. Yeah, she _definitely_ liked him.

They all knew full well that Merissa had a thing for Alex. _Most _of the slaves actually knew that. But Hope and Anora—and everyone else, for that matter—never pushed it too much and, besides, Merissa wouldn't admit to liking him even under Chinese water torture. _God help us _all_ if Quintz ever thinks of that method of torment…_, Hope had thought when she'd first thought of this.

Either way, they could see Merissa blushing and see that small, shy smile on her face right now trying to hide itself, and the other two girls took their satisfaction at knowing they were right about her liking him. They already knew that he returned those same feelings for her. Hell, they'd held him down and forced that information out of the boy when this whole thing had first begun to surface. They hadn't told Merissa, yet, though. She needed to figure this out on her own, if she could. It _was _getting a tad hard for the others to hold that in, though.

This time, however, Merissa was ready for this usual discussion and shot right back at Hope with a question of her own, one which even caught Anora off guard since even _she_ hadn't yet figured out this little detail quite yet. "Oh yeah, Hope?" Merissa said a bit slyly. Hope paused in her work for a second and looked at Merissa. She knew that tone all too well. Uh-oh, Merissa was plotting again. "And what about Max, huh?"

That stopped Hope dead in her tracks. The Lycan girl jumped ever so slightly, almost dropping the washcloth, and stopped what she was doing, her eyes widening a little bit and her face almost instantly taking on a deep, crimson blush. Well, that was _one_ way to wipe the smile off of Hope's face. She cleared her throat a bit nervously and resumed her work, trying to recover from the surprise question. She bit her bottom lip a little and scratched the back of her head, then proceeded to fiddle a bit with her hair with her free hand. This reaction was her trademark nervous habit. "Er…w-what about him?" she asked in a bit of a small, nervous, shaky voice. Busted!

Anora's mouth dropped a bit in a surprised, yet smiling way. "Oh! Max, huh?" she said, which merely succeeded in making Hope blush even more and seem to get considerably more nervous than before. Oh yeah, she was busted.

Merissa laughed a bit. "So you _do_ like him! I knew it!"

"I do not!" Hope shot back, never once stopping in her cleaning now or looking up from her work. This is probably how Merissa knew she was lying so fast, since obviously, she does the exact same thing when _she's_ trying to hide something from anyone. She stared at Hope with that look as if to say "liar", her face displaying a small, triumphant smile. "Prove it," Hope said. "You have no proof!"

"You wouldn't be fighting us so hard if you didn't," Anora joined in the fun. "And plus, if you don't then why are you getting so nervous and embarrassed about it?"

Crap! That _was_ kinda true. "Because…!" Hope then trailed off, unable to immediately come up with an answer.

"Because…?" Obviously, the other two girls had other plans and were expecting an answer from Hope on the subject.

"Because…" she began, "I…um…am simply embarrassed that you would think I'd like him. I mean, nothing against Max, but I just don't like him like that and it's embarrassing that you think I do, I guess. And wouldn't that make _you_ nervous if someone accused you of liking someone you didn't like in that way? Besides, of course I'm fighting you over it. It's not true, and I wouldn't want any false rumors being spread about me now, would I?"

Whether the two others believed her or not, Hope didn't know. They're faces indicated that they probably didn't buy it. It _was_ a pretty good excuse, though—a lie, but a good excuse. Either way, however, they went with it. "Okay, okay," Merissa said. "You've got a good point there, I guess."

"Fine, we won't pester," Anora sighed in a bit of a joking way.

_Thank God…_ Hope thought to herself as she went back to her work again and actually managed to finish up her last window this time, trying to hide a small sigh of relief.

Anora and Merissa smiled a bit triumphantly and tried to stifle back small chuckles as they noticed this reaction out of the corner of their eyes, but were just as satisfied with Hope having not noticed this than if she had. They knew full well that they were right, and that was enough for them. Then, they all proceeded to finish up the windows.

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Just as they'd all finished up, Exondria walked into the room. At the time, she had on her almighty Vampire façade. Anora and Hope could understand why. Sythera's scent was definitely a bit strong. She was close by; they all knew this. She was probably somewhere pestering Missy. They wouldn't be surprised if Servina or maybe even Quintz were within earshot at the moment, as well, so it was wise that the young Vampire keep up the act for the time being. Plus, Merissa did not yet know about her being a Lycan sympathizer and they really couldn't risk too many people knowing.

Exondria walked in, her head held up a bit high and with a look of superiority and authority playing itself upon her face. She stopped near the three slaves and they bowed to her. She nodded back to indicate that they could stand straight, her face stern as she looked each of them over. They did this, but kept their heads bowed slightly in respect.

Oh yes, Exondria had definitely become quite good at this act. She had Merissa fooled—that was for sure. She then addressed Hope and Anora. "Anora, Hope," she started, her voice commanding and displaying power.

"Yes, My Lady?" both of the girls replied in unison, going along with it but knowing perfectly well that she was faking it. Merissa stayed back a bit and kept her head lowered, having not been addressed, as was customary.

"Lady Servina has given me permission to go out this evening to buy some new clothes. I wish to go shopping and I require my usual escorts. The two of you will meet me here in one hour sharp and be ready to go. You know the drill by now, I trust, and you know what I expect. Is that understood?" Even though it was fake, the act she put on and the way she presented herself _did_ still manage to send a slight shiver down Hope's and Anora's backs. And if that were so, just think of how nervous _Merissa_ must've been.

"Yes, My Lady," came Anora and Hope's response, followed by a small bow of respect.

"Good. See that you do not forget. And remember, I expect to see you in this room and ready to leave in an hour. Do not keep me waiting, slaves."

Once again, the two girls responded in the same way they had. And with that, Exondria turned and walked out the door in her usual authoritative manner for when she had to act like this. All three girls let out breaths of relief as the Vampire left the room. They turned their attention back to their work, only to find that that room was pretty much done. Anora, Hope, and Merissa looked at one another.

"I feel sorry for you, Anora," Merissa said in a very hushed tone, not wanting to be overheard. "_You_ have to deal with _her_ on a regular basis." Actually, having to deal with Exondria wasn't bad at all, unless there were others around. Then again, Merissa didn't know that. Anora simply shrugged in reply, not knowing how to respond to that. Merissa's voice became even more hushed as she said this next comment, _really_ not wanting to be overheard, especially not by the Vampire she was speaking of. "Of course, sorry Anora, but I don't feel nearly as bad for you as I do for Hope here." She patted Hope on the shoulder in a slightly joking manner, managing a small smile and laugh.

Anora and Hope both smiled and laughed a bit as well. Well, at least _this_ comment was warranted. Quintz _was_ horrible. "Yeah, well Eris doesn't exactly seem like a walk in the park for you, either," Hope remarked quietly.

"True," Merissa agreed, thinking about how her mistress, Eris Discordia, usually was. She usually drove a lot of people crazy. "Very true."

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Author: GAH! WRITER'S BLOCK AND SCHOOL!! (Runs around screaming like crazy as though my head were on fire or something)

Exondria: (After reading what was said about her) Hey! I'm not _that _bad!

Author: (Runs into a wall while running around and screaming and falls over. A minute later…) Ow…

Hope: Nice move there, Genius.

Author: Aw, shut up, Hope! Or else I _could_ just tell everyone about you and Max meeting up in the garden that one time and— (Gets mouth covered by Hope)

Hope: No!

Anora: Whoa! Wait! No, what happened? I wanna know!

Exondria: (Gasps) 0.o Hope! Did you and Max—?

Hope: 0.o (Uncovers Author's mouth) No, we did _not_!!

Anora: Okay, we'll take your word for it…for now. (Winks)

Hope: Say anything about it and I'll tell everyone about you and F— (Gets mouth covered suddenly by Anora and Author)

Anora: Don't you dare!

Author: Not _yet_, Hope!

Anora: 0.o _Yet_?! What do you mean "not _yet_"?!

Author: Oh, nothing, nothing, Anora. You'll see.

Anora: What?!

Author: So anyway, guys, thanks for reading. Of course, Eris Discordia is not my character. She belongs to my friend Chel-chan. Keep with us to find out what happens next. I promise the story will pick up in excitement soon. Well, until next time, readers! Vive le resistance! (Gets bombarded with questions and interrogations from Anora about what she has up her sleeve in regards to what "not yet" means, but tries to ignore it) Bye!


	12. Chpt 12 Suspicious

Maybe they even have an argument about it without reconciling till near the end

**Chapter 12: Suspicious**

An hour later (sharp!), Anora and Hope were exactly where "Mistress Exodius" had "ordered" them to be—in the foyer, awaiting her arrival. _Finally! A chance to wear _our_ clothing style outside of the slaves' quarters! _Hope thought to herself. She always loved whenever Exondria pulled them out of the mansion to "escort" her somewhere. And she was always amazed at how the girl managed this considering how often the Head Cheese was pissed off at Hope—and especially now that there was an important ceremony to prepare for; it was two whole months away, but everyone knew how anal Servina got about these sorts of things even _that_ early on beforehand. It was nearly impossible to get her to budge on things such as this, usually. ("Okay, that proves it! She's magical!")

Anora leaned against a wall as they waited, and Hope paced a bit—her usual habit for when she gets bored. They both partially hoped that no one besides Exondria would be able to recognize them. After all, none of the Vampires in the mansion besides Exondria (Author: And F—! (Quickly gets mouth covered by Annie)) have ever seen either of them dressed as they normally do when not working—the way they _like_ to dress to meet their personal style preferences.

Hopefully no one else would recognize the two little Goth girls (Hope leaning slightly more towards the punk rock side of it as opposed to Anora, who was full-on Goth) standing in the foyer. The clothes and makeup sure did do a good job at making them look a lot different.

"So how's the fresh meat doing?" Annie asked Hope, referring to Eve. (The woman had been there for almost a month, so far, but still she was considered fresh meat since she was the newest amongst them all.)

"Don't know. Don't care," came Hope's simple, seemingly uninterested reply. Obviously, she was still angry with Eve. Annie still didn't know why in the first place, but she thought it best not to push the matter, as was the case now. Hope's answer told her friend that she didn't wish to speak of the other woman.

Anora nodded in understanding about it and they both continued to just kind of stare blankly into space, Hope even doing so in mid-stride. They were both probably deep in thought about something or another again. What they were actually thinking about at the moment, no one could ever really know.

Just then, both of them perked their ears up a bit and sniffed the air. Then, they looked to the left side of the staircase just as Exondria descended to the bottom step. She still had her authoritative mask on. Understandable—they _were_ still within the mansion walls, after all, and in an area where people were more commonly found. Better safe than sorry.

Anora and Hope straightened up as much as they would dare to with any other Vampire—their postures still quite diminished—as she stood at the bottom of the stairs, her head held high and her demeanor practically screaming "authority figure". "Go outside. I shall be right back and will join you after retrieving something which I've left in the foyer. Meet me out by the gate."

The other two girls both nodded their understanding and Exondria turned and walked out. _Probably dropped her wallet in there yet again. I swear, the girl needs to just glue the damn thing to her pants and be done with it_, Hope thought to herself in a joking manner, smiling to herself just slightly.

Only then did the two Lycan girl's notice who was following, rather gloomily, right behind her. "What's Kaden doing with her?" Annie whispered to Hope after she'd walked out. Hope shrugged to signal that she didn't know. Anora shrugged back as well and with that, they walked out as instructed and waited for Exondria's return (and probably Kaden's now, too) by the mansion gate.

They were having a bit of a low-toned conversation amongst themselves as they awaited the arrival of their companions for the night. "Well, yeah, I mean he's not all _that_ bad looking, but I still—" Hope cut off then.

They looked up suddenly as Exondria and Kaden finally came walking back out of the mansion. Yep—Kaden was still with her, just as they had guessed—and he didn't look all that happy about it, either.

Hope and Anora looked at him in a bit of a worried manner, and then looked to Exondria, hoping for an explanation as to why the boy was to be traveling along with them this evening. "Servina," was all Exondria had to say for them to get it. They both sighed, understanding perfectly well what was going on now. Hope glanced at Kaden just in time to see him crinkle up his nose. Why he did this, she couldn't really be sure—probably at the mention of Wonder Slut's name.

The gate opened—as usual, someone was controlling it from a surveillance room within the mansion—and Exondria, of course, walked out first, the three Lycans following her like "the good little slaves" that they were…well…um…at least _supposed_ to be. She couldn't exactly drop the "Vamp overlord" act just yet. And how would it look if the slaves walked ahead of her? Not very good at all, that's how.

The three slaves trailed behind Exondria subserviently as they traveled, Kaden walking behind all of them and Hope and Anora continuing their quiet conversation amongst themselves as they walked. It wasn't until they were well within the city that Exondria slowed down to walk in between her two friends. They were safe from prying eyes here—or at least they should be, anyway. Kaden still walked behind all three of them, still seeming none too happy to be there at the moment.

"Okay, so just _what_ is this I keep hearing about a certain little Lycan boy named Max, huh?" Exondria lightheartedly pried as she fell between them—typical for her. Her smile was a bit teasing and Hope blushed even more than she had been at it. She was almost _sure_ that Exondria already knew about the situation as well.

"Huh?" Hope paused, and then tried to play it as cool as possible. "Oh nothing, nothing!"

"Really now?"

"Uh-huh! I…um…we… Hey, look! There's the shop!" A perfect distraction—for now. The other two girls knew it was, but they just smiled to each other and let it slip for now. They weren't worried. They'd catch her on it later.

They're first stop was the usual place—a small Archaic Shoppe owned and run by a very nice Lycan couple, said to be part of the rebellion. It was risky for _any_ Vampire to just waltz into a place such as that. At first, Anora and Hope both thought Exondria insane for wanting to go there. Then again, Exondria didn't seem to even really care about that sort of thing very much anymore.

They walked in the door of the boutique, the little bell on which dinged as they did so. Yep, this was it. Fredrick and Fiona's Archaic Shoppe, _definitely_ the three's favorite place to be, shopping or otherwise.

The two people in the shop looked up as they came in—the owners. The four of them walked over to the counter only to be greeted by the kindly, gray-haired woman behind it, who looked at them and then smiled. Hope sniffed the air slightly and in a discreet manner. She always loved how this woman smelled—magnolia blossoms. It must've been her perfume; that's what Hope had guessed.

"Back again, Misses Exondria, Anora, and Hope?" she asked them. Hope absolutely loved the sound of her voice. She'd never known a mother figure before, but if she had to take a guess, she'd guess that Mrs. Fiona was just about the most motherly person she knew. Her voice was soft and caring—maternal. Her smile was caring and gentle. She hugged you just about and delicately as though you were a fragile young child. Oh yes, Hope and Anora loved Mrs. Fiona, and so did Exondria. She probably reminded Anora a bit of the mother she lost when she was forced into slavery—poor thing.

"Yes, Mrs. Fiona," all three of the girls said at the same time.

_Ah, back again. My favorite store_, Hope thought. The look on Anora's face obviously read the exact same thing. This was the undisputed favorite shop—Gothic and Medieval/Renaissance-ish; maybe even some 19th century mixed in. Exondria, Hope, and Anora all smiled at Mrs. Fiona. Kaden wasn't even paying attention, for the most part. He was too busy staring, open-mouthed, at the clothes and different items with astonishment. Yes, that proves it. Those three girls have _amazing_ taste.

By staring like this and trying to look around, Kaden had sort of stepped out of the safety of Hope's shadow, for he was no longer going unnoticed. Fiona suddenly turned her head to look at the boy. Her eyebrow rose as she sniffed the air in his direction. She was definitely checking him carefully for anything being wrong. "And who's the gentleman?" Mrs. Fiona asked the girls after a moment or two of sizing him up, in a way.

Kaden looked up suddenly at hearing this, looking slightly confused, as well as a bit nervous. Obviously, he'd finally come back to reality enough to realize that everyone else was staring at him and talking about him. "Kaden," Exondria said simply as an introduction. Mrs. Fiona's eyebrows rose at this, though she uttered not one word about it. She simply nodded a bit and let them all go about their business.

Kaden wandered off somewhere, of course, while the girls went and looked around, trying on some of the clothes as they did so. He probably didn't want to be roped into holding shopping bags or things like that. Some of the things they tried on were just a tad too eccentric for them, but still cool at the same time. They'd never be able to get these kinds of things, of course, though, especially not the two Lycan girls.

They giggled and chatted, having a great time and enjoying the temporary freedom. Exondria even found a very nice Medieval-style dress that she wanted. It took half the money she had, but she got it anyway, showing it then to the two Lycan girls, who nodded their approval of the dress with smiles. Too bad Hope and Anora couldn't get any of these nice dresses. They couldn't risk it, even in the Lycan House. They wanted them so bad sometimes, but knew they couldn't have them. But they just kind of shrugged that off and continued with their fun while it lasted, Kaden following a little bit behind them, still being his grumpy self.

Hope was a bit nervous about him being with them. She wasn't sure whether or not they should trust Kaden. After all, how did they really know that he wasn't going to tell on them for this? Surely, it was forbidden for Vampires and Lycans to be this friendly towards each other.

They were acting like the best friends that they truly were. Kaden was bound to have figured some things out about them by now. Who knows whether or not he'd already figured out that Exondria was a sympathizer and that these three girls were best friends? And if he had, who knows that he won't rat them out to Servina or somebody like that? This was all very risky, in a way.

Hope pulled Exondria to the side as Anora continued to look. She had seemed a bit suspicious of him too, but just hadn't said anything. She was probably confident that Hope would handle it, as usual.

"Exondria, I'm a bit worried," she whispered to her Vampire friend. "What if he snitches on us? You wouldn't be in nearly as much trouble as me and Anora…" Exondria nodded. It was true, after all. Exondria would be in a lot of trouble if they were outed, yes, but Hope and Anora would probably be the ones to not survive the consequences of it.

"I'll do what I can," came Exondria's quiet, thoughtful reply after a brief pause for contemplation. "He doesn't seem like the type who'd rat."

Hope shrugged. "I don't normally see him around much, even in the Lycans' Quarters." There was an air of distrust in her voice, which was understandable.

Exondria shrugged this time and they rejoined Annie, although, Exondria fell behind them both then, and went to speak with Kaden. Hope and Anora looked at them for a second, but decided not to pry and to go about their own business. Exondria would deal with Kaden. Leave it be.

Hope walked with Anora. Without even glancing up from the clothes rack, her friend asked, "She's going to make sure nothing goes wrong, I assume?"

"Yeah, that's the plan." Hope didn't exactly seem completely convinced, but she tried to shrug it off. Anora glanced at her, the same concern showing in her eyes. They were scared. If he told, it was all over.

"I'm…" Annie trailed off, not wanting to say "scared".

Hope nodded in understanding. "I know…" She had known exactly what her best friend was going to say. In all honesty, she was afraid as well. Hopefully, Exondria would make it so that never happens. Hope glanced over at Exondria and Kaden for a second. She furrowed her brows, having almost sworn she had just seen the smallest hint of a blush on Exondria's face. Then, she turned her head away just as quickly as Exondria and Kaden started heading towards them again. Exondria took the lead, of course.

Hope was a bit confused about what she'd just seen, but tried to ignore it. Maybe she hadn't truly seen what she'd thought she had. After all, Exondria was a Vampire. Their skin looked odd sometimes in some kinds of light. Yes, it must've been a trick of the light. That's what Hope decided on for the time being, though she _did_ make a mental note of what she thought she saw.

_Hmm… Maybe… Maybe everything's going to be just fine after all, _Hope thought to herself, suddenly feeling a bit better about the situation than she had before. She wasn't sure why. She just did.

Or at least, she hoped.

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Author: Well, there's Chapter 12 for you! (Smiles)

Exondria: Hey! Will you leave me out of this?!

Hope: Why? You were just fine with it until she started pinning you on your interests in—! (Gets her mouth covered quickly by Exondria)

Exondria: Shut it!

Author: Geez, what's everyone's fascination around here with slapping a hand over someone's mouth, huh?

Anora: Uh… Wow... Well, come back soon everyone! Chapter 13 will be up as soon as the author can manage! (Smiles and then runs off to try and pry Exondria's hand off of Hope's face) Dang, she's strong!

Author: (Watches, amused) Something's missing… Oh, I know! (Pulls out popcorn suddenly from out of nowhere) Ah, that's more like it! Now, I can fully enjoy the show! (Continues to watch, this time with popcorn)

Vive le resistance!


	13. Chpt 13 Eavesdropping

Chapter 13

**Chapter 13: Eavesdropping**

Hope and her friends shopped for a long while, probably for about as long as they could push it before having to return to the mansion for the evening. They laughed and talked and just had a lot of fun. It sure was a nice change of pace from the usual. Hope was so happy… As soon as they were within sight of Draconis, however, everything changed. Anora and Hope went back to falling in line with Kaden behind Exondria, following her quietly like good little slaves. Exondria took on her demanding façade again, of course, needing to avoid any suspicions of her true nature. And Kaden? Well, he just walked on, same as before, behind Exondria and just a step or two behind the two Lycan girls.

As they walked in the gate and up to the front of the mansion, it became obvious that someone had neglected to inform Kaden's mistress, Jessica, that he was accompanying them shopping that evening. She sure was angry. Hope wasn't sure why, other than the fact that Little-Miss-Thang pretty much _always_ hated it whenever she found Kaden with girls, even the other slaves._ Geez, with the way _she_ carries on like this, you'd think she was the jealous girlfriend or something…_ Hope thought to herself, trying to hide the eye-roll from the raging Vampire girl. They walked onto the mansion grounds, which began just inside the gate, and then it began.

Jessica, of course, ignored the other three girls for the time being and almost immediately turned all of her attention—and anger, unfortunately for Kaden—at her slave. "And just who gave _you_ permission to be outside of the gate?" she hissed at him.

She turned and icy glare to Exondria, answering her own question. Of course, Exondria was the only Vampire he was with. Who _else_ would've given him permission, right? Exondria merely returned Jessica's glare with a calm stare of her own. She didn't look angry or anything, even though Jessica was obviously challenging her. Hope always found this quite impressive, actually.

"I—" Kaden began to say anxiously, shaking just a bit as he stood there, only to be cut off by Jessica's ranting. Typical.

"I don't care if the headmistress herself gave you permission to leave! You are _my_ slave and you do as _I_ tell you!!" came Jessica's angry yell. She was practically screaming at the poor boy. This, as usual, broke Kaden. He closed his mouth quickly and bowed his head to his Vampire mistress, weak and timid.

_Poor guy… _is what pretty much all three of the other girls were thinking as they just stood and watched, unable to do anything about it at the moment. After all, Kaden was _Jessica's_ slave. She had the say over him, save for Servina's word. (Author: And speaking of The Flaming Bitch of Doom…)

Just then, Jessica's form was drowned in a tall, ominous shadow looming over her. A soft "ahem" came from the figure now standing behind the girl. Even without looking, everyone knew who that shadow and voice belonged to. Yeah, Jessica was S.O.L. now…

Jessica turned around slowly, probably hoping she wasn't right in who it was behind her. Too bad for her she _was_ right. The short-tempered Vampire then found herself staring up at the Coven Headmistress in fear, shaking a little.

She was in deep trouble, obviously. That last thing she'd just said was pretty much a _direct_ challenge of Servina's authority. Servina was extremely angry. She practically had steam coming from her ears. It was rare that you ever saw the Coven Mistress quite _this_ angry, even at a slave and _especially_ not towards a fellow Vampire.

_Ooh, she's gonna get it…_ Anora thought to herself as the others waited anxiously to see what would happen next.

"Well," Servina began, "If it's such a problem when _I_ order a slave to do something, perhaps you should become the Elder and I just a simple nobody… Like you." The Head Vampire took a step towards Jessica, who tried to back away, but merely succeeded in tripping over herself and landing with a small gasp on the ground. The Vampire girl crawled backwards until she had her back to the fence and could go no further.

Hope and the others watched in shock for a second as the Vampire slowly advanced at the shaking girl staring fearfully up at her. Servina's gaze was steely. It sent shivers down Hope's spine. Man, Servina had never even been this angry before with _Hope_…and the Lycan girl planned to try and keep it that way.

But the spectacle soon ended for Hope and the three other bystanders. Hope turned her head just in time to see Exondria begin heading inside. After receiving permission to leave from Servina, she, Anora, and Kaden quietly and a little nervously followed Exondria inside the mansion and out of the line of fire, Kaden and Anora shutting the door quickly and silently behind them.

They began heading to the staircase, intending to go hide out in Exondria's room, but then Hope's curiosity began to get the better of her. She paused and looked back at the door. Then, she set down the shopping bag she'd had in her hands all this time and walked back towards the door, pressing her ear to it quietly and carefully. After all, how in the world could Hope ever pass up an opportunity to eavesdrop on a _Vampire_ getting chewed out by Servina for a change? _That_ was priceless to her—a real treat. Anora, of course, followed suit, usually being the one to follow her friend's lead.

"_Why you little runt! I have half a mind to cast you out on the streets right now, you ungrateful, disrespectful fool!"_

"_But lady Servina, I—"_

"_But _what_, Jessica?!"_

"_My lady, please! Please allow me to explain myself!"_

"_What is there to explain, Jessica? It is obvious that you do not seem to have a lot of respect for your Elders! …And I believe I may know _just_ what to do about that…"_

The two Lycan girls didn't get to hear anything other than that, for the next second, the sound of bags being picked up grabbed their attention, followed by Exondria's voice saying to them, "I ask—told you two to bring me pasta." The two girls looked at the Vampire and nodded in understanding. They knew what Exondria was trying to do and knew that her judgment was right on this matter. They couldn't be caught eavesdropping, now could they? _Especially _not them and _especially_ not on Servina.

They took the hint and watched Exondria ascend up the stairs, Kaden right behind her. Why he was following her, the girls didn't know—although Hope definitely had her suspicions, which she decided upon keeping to herself for the time being, seeing as how Anora didn't seem to notice a thing just yet. They looked at each other and shrugged, then went to the kitchen to go and make the pasta that "Mistress Exodius" had "demanded" of them, chatting all the while they were there as usual, and both wondering what it was that Servina was planning for Jessica.

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Finally, morning came. It had been another long day if work in the mansion and the slaves were looking forward to the down time. Anora, as usual, went to sleep, as most of the others did. Hope had wanted to go out again…except that Raven stopped her in the doorway and gave her a warning glare as she stood in front of the front door with her arms crossed. One low growl and Hope scurried quickly and obediently back to her room. Or, at least, that was her intention…

She reached the hallway for the women's bedrooms and that's where she was stopped by a voice nearby. Hope blushed a deep crimson color at hearing it, knowing automatically exactly whose voice it was, though she tried her best to hide her embarrassment.

"Hope," the quiet male voice beckoned her, "may I please speak to you for a moment? There's something I need to say…" He seemed nervous. Why, though? Hope's heart fluttered and raced a little as she turned to look at him and she nodded with a slightly shy smile, her blush still there a bit, unbeknownst to her.

"Oh! Of course, Max. W-what do you need?" she asked him, trying to stifle a stutter.

She wasn't sure whether or not Max had noticed her stammer. All she knew was that, in the next moment, he smiled at her back—that charming, gorgeous smile he had, though at the moment, it seemed a tad anxious. Hope sighed inwardly so as not to have him notice it, almost getting lost in his eyes again. He had just the most incredible blue, which were only brought out more by his long-ish, rich, chocolate brown hair which framed his face just the slightest bit.

He was sort of tall, but not too much so—maybe about 5'10" or so. He was a bit tan and slim. He _was_ pretty strong and looked it to a certain point, though he wasn't completely buff. At the moment, he was just wearing simple jeans and a black t-shirt. Even in that simple outfit, though, he looked just fine to Hope.

She was brought back to reality then at hearing him speak to her again. "Could we go somewhere a bit more private to talk? Say, in taking a walk outside?" He offered her his arm, that charming smile still playing itself on his face.

Hope smiled a bit wider, her blush deepening just a bit, and she took his offered arm—which, she was surprised to find, was shaking a bit and slightly tense. So he _was_ nervous! Maybe this _was_ what she thought it was!—and let him lead her gently out the door.

Raven was still standing there as they did so, but she knew that Hope wasn't going to sneak out with someone else with her. The girl wasn't quite _that_ bold. Plus, as they went out, after nodding politely to their Alpha, Raven smiled knowingly, fully aware somehow of what was going on between them, and just leaned against the wall with her arms crossed as before, only this time smiling.

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Maybe 10 or 20 minutes or so passed before she walked back inside of the building, smiling happily. She turned just in time to see Max entering through the doorway as well. She smiled at him, her hand gently closed around a pretty new locket around her neck. He smiled back and walked back up to her, taking her hands in his as he kissed her softly, and said, "I'll see you tomorrow."

Hope nodded in agreement. They smiled and touched foreheads for a moment, looking into each other's eyes, and then, Max gave her hands one more light squeeze before walking away and heading to his room, giving her one last endearing look before he disappeared into the men's hallway.

Hope turned back around, the brightest smile ever playing itself on her face and a bright blush illuminating her features. She let out a deep breath. Had that _really_ just happened? She almost couldn't believe it herself. Had Max _really_ just asked her to be his girlfriend? Her fingers rubbed the locket lightly and she looked down at it, still smiling. Yes, it _had_ really happened. There was her proof right there.

Hope took a step towards the women's quarters again when a familiar scent caught her attention. She furrowed her brows in confusion, unsure of how this was possible.

_Exondria…? _The Lycan girl wandered close to the boy's hallway and sniffed again. Why on Earth was her scent so strong here? She looked around a bit and then took a cautious step father into the hallway. Sniffing quietly to find where the scent was coming from, she stopped right in front of Kaden's door. It was open just a crack. She peered inside just the slightest bit, her curiosity getting the better of her again.

Initially, her mouth just dropped open at what she saw:

Kaden walked over to where Exondria was, looking into her eyes. Hope could tell she looked a bit nervous. Embarrassment? Excitement? _Ha! I _knew _they liked each other!_ She watched them, holding her breath subconsciously in anticipation, as Kaden leaned in close to Exondria, getting mere inches away from her face. _He's gonna kiss her!_

No such luck. She was let down to see that Kaden merely poked Exondria in the forehead. She slumped her shoulders a bit in disappointment with a face that clearly read "aw man!" and looked back in for a second.

"Get some sleep," Kaden told Exondria, pointing to the extra bed in the room.

As Exondria started moving over to it after a small pause of shocked silence, Hope turned away and started heading back to her room. "Damn… I was almost positive he was gonna do it…" she muttered to herself.

"Who was gonna do what?"

Hope looked up at the familiar voice and smiled a bit at seeing Anora suddenly walking next to her, figuring the other Lycan must've been up for a mid-day snack since she usually slept at this time. "Oh, nothing, Annie." She paused and looked her friend over, then her smile turned into her sly, mischievous one.

"Uh-oh… What?"

Hope chuckled. "Nice night shirt. Fayt let you borrow it?"

It was then that she looked down and then blushed crimson red, realizing that she was, indeed, wearing his night shirt. Annie looked up at Hope and then, a mocking smile of her own came upon her face. Calmly and coolly as ever, she retorted, "Nice locket. Ya steal that outta Max's back pocket?" (She'd seen him with it a day or so before.)

Hope blushed the same deep red color that Anora had only moments before. She looked down a bit, shyly, and then looked at her friend and sighed. "Touché," was all she said. Anora laughed, knowing she'd caught her.

Hope smiled at her a bit and turned back towards her. "Yeah, yeah. Okay, truce?" She held out her hand to Annie.

Anora smiled, pretending to think about it for a moment. And then—"Truce"—she shook Hope's hand. The two friends giggled and then, after saying their sleep wells and such, headed to their separate rooms for the rest of the day.

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Author: Ta-da! And so, Chapter 13 has come into being!

Exondria, Anora, and Hope: (All stare at Author in shock and a bit of anger)

Author: What…?

Exondria: Okay, is it even humanly _possible_ for you to stay out of our love lives?

Author: Uuuuuuum…

Hope: Oy…don't answer that.

Anora: There's a perfectly good explanation for me wearing his shirt!

Everyone else: (Stares at her expectantly)

Anora: Um… I… Uh… I got nothin'…

Hope: Exactly, Sparky

Anora: (Death glare to Hope)

Author: Um… (Begins inching away) Well, anyway, I'll get started on Chapter 14 as soon as I can. School's almost out, so that makes my life easier… (As they spot me trying to flee) Uh…BYE! (Takes off running)

Exondria: GET HER!

All three of them: (Run after me in angry mob form, pitchforks and all)

Author: Ah! HELP ME!!

(CRASH!!)


	14. Chpt 14 Memories

Chapter 14:

**Chapter 14: Memories**

It had been about a week since Hope and Max had begun their relationship. The other slaves were definitely beginning to notice, though no one had said anything aloud as of yet. They knew; they just didn't say anything. Even the Vampires were beginning to notice something different, though they didn't put the pieces together, like the Lycans, and figure it out (except for Exondria, that is—as always).

They, honestly, barely thought anything of it. Most were simply not interested in the lives of their slaves—unless it was their own slave, naturally. Of course, it helped that Hope and Max didn't exactly make their affections toward each other noticeable around the Vampires. The slaves' love lives were private matters. Vampires need not be concerned. As far as Hope and Max were concerned, no one needed to know amongst _them_.

Plus, the fact that if the Vampires knew about it, it could be dangerous for the couple was quite another incentive to hide their true feelings toward each other from the overlords. Especially with Hope being the slave of Quintessence Acanthus, it was dangerous.

If Quintz even so much as suspected her slave of having a love, it could mean death for one or the both of them (most likely one—Max—and then Hope would be left to grieve and suffer even more at the hands of her Vampire mistress, alone, and Quintz would no doubt take even more pride in "teaching her slave a long, torturous lesson". Hope would never see the end of it). Hope's mistress was short-tempered and took great joy in destroying any happiness her slave possessed. She would never stand for Hope having a boyfriend and both Max and Hope knew this all too well.

And so, their love was hidden from the Vampires—at least as much as it could be. The most any of them ever suspected was that maybe Max and Hope had become closer friends as of recent. They spent some of their time in the mansion together over that week, although sparingly.

Hope spent most of her time in the mansion, as usual, with Anora, only meeting up with Max every once in a while when they just happened to end up in the same room—sometimes after one of them hinting to the other of where they were going to be. And when this happened, Anora gladly bowed out of the room with a quiet smile and worked on some other task in another room. (Anora and Exondria were the only two that Hope had actually _told_ about her new boyfriend.)

Everything was going well. Hope, for once in her life, felt truly happy, knowing that someone loved her as more than a friend or acquaintance. True, she was happy before, what with having great friends such as Anora and the rest of them, but now her life felt at least a bit more complete, though, in truth, she knew that it pretty much wasn't.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

"Hey, I'll be back in a bit, okay? Lady Exondria's calling me," Anora said, turning a nice smile to Hope as she put down the dusting rag she had been using and began to head for the hallway, heading for Exondria's bedroom, where she'd heard the bell ring for her.

Hope smiled back and nodded. "Okay." As Annie disappeared from sight, Hope turned back to her chore contently, humming to herself as she did so. She smiled to herself at thinking of the night before. She had been hanging out with Max, Anora, and her other friends in the parlor of the slaves' quarters and just having a good time.

She could still feel Max's arms around her waist, holding her gently against him as she sat next to her new boyfriend on the couch. They had chatted by the fireplace for a bit, though the fireplace wasn't lit due to how warm it had been last night. That didn't matter so much; the lamps provided enough light for everyone.

The conversation led to a lot of laughs and jokes, and quickly led to a fun game of Impressions. It was always fun for them to do the best hysterically impressions of the Vampires that they could manage. Some of the impressions were actually right on the dot—and all of them were hilarious.

Hope giggled to herself quietly as she thought of Max's impression of Lord Kurati, Coven Mistress Servina Karavalis's secret lover, ending with Max at Hope's feet, begging her on his knees for her to "leave that idiotic Draven and to come away with him forever, where they could make beautiful chaos together". Hope had laughed so hard at this that she nearly fell off the couch. The impression got pretty good.

Then it was Hope's turn. Of course, she did her near-flawless impression of her own mistress, Quintz Acanthus, all of a sudden bursting into a fake rampage about the most random crap imaginable and threatening to shoot the first thing that moved.

Everyone always loved that one, especially in moments like this one, when she all of a sudden started interacting with everyone else, picking fake fights and such, and then pretending to have an…um…interesting "friendship" going on with Sythera Damonico—Artemis, of course, taking on the role of Sythera. It was dead on and Hope always added a new twist to it every time she was asked to do it.

Yes, that night had been a lot of fun. And now, looking back on it, Hope had something pleasant to dwell on for the time being. Hope giggled to herself again at the thought of what went on last night.

"Ya know, I think that you and Artemis make a pretty good team for our game," came a cheerful, charming—and, not to mention, mesmerizing (for Hope, anyway)—voice from behind her then, almost seeming to read her thoughts and know exactly what she was thinking about. Hope gasped, her smile widening a bit, as she turned to face the owner of the voice, though she tried her best not to make her actions look at all suspicious.

"Hey, Max!" she greeted Max, finding the boy leaning against the doorframe of the library entrance. She stayed where she was, not wanting to seem too eager to be near him.

"Hey, Hope," was Max's reply. Hope sighed inwardly a bit. Man, his voice and smile were just gorgeous! He pushed himself off the wall a bit and walked over to her. Spying the rag on the table, he picked it up. "Mind if I assist you?" he asked. Hope shook her head and nodded with a smile (as well as a small blush). Max smiled back and proceeded to help Hope with the chores to be done within the room.

They talked as they worked. The conversation was nothing special. They couldn't afford it to be anything special while they were in the mansion, so they kept their talk strictly non-personal—life, innocent goings on about the slaves' quarters, how each other's friends were doing; that sort of thing.

"So… Hope? I've noticed lately that you haven't been getting along so well with your new roomy. She giving you trouble or something?"

Hope looked up from her work, brushing a few strands of hair out of her face and behind her ear—it was hard to control that frizzy mess, but somehow she managed. She really didn't wanna talk about it yet with anyone. "Oh, you mean with Eve?"

Max nodded.

"We just had a disagreement is all. It wasn't anything major. I'd just rather not talk about it right now, if that's okay with you."

Max could tell that the other woman was a really touchy subject at the moment, though she didn't know why. "Alright," he agreed. "I won't pry." He put a gentle hand on her shoulder to comfort her a bit, though, sensing that the question had upset her a bit.

Hope smiled at him. "Thanks, Max," she said, secretly getting a bit lost in those gorgeous eyes of his again. She just couldn't seem to help doing so, it seemed.

Max returned the smile. "Of course, Hope."

They both turned back to their chores for a bit in silence, neither one knowing what else to say to the other. Then, Max happened to look up and the other necklace besides the locket around Hope's neck caught his eye—the horse charm with her name above it and such. He had always wondered about it, in truth, but was unsure of whether or not to inquire about it. Taking in a quiet, deep breath, he decided to ask, hoping that the girl would not be angry with him for doing so.

"…Hope? Can I ask you something?" he began in a bit of an unsure manner.

Hope paused in her work again and looked up at him, giving him a reassuring smile to try and make him less afraid to ask what he needed to ask. "Sure. Go on, Max."

"May I inquire about that necklace I've always seen you where?" came the question, him nodding to the charm around her neck.

Hope looked at it briefly and then back up at her secret boyfriend, the smile not fading a bit. "Of course. I don't know much about it, though, so I'm afraid that there's not much about it I can tell you. I've had it ever since I can remember. I'm guessing my parents gave it to me when I was just an infant."

The Lycan boy in front of her nodded in understanding. "It's beautiful. Any idea what the 'A' in the middle stands for?"

Hope shook her head. "Well, I'm thinking it stands for my last name…whatever that may be. I was never told my last name. I doubt if anyone amongst us knows it."

"I see…" Max fell silent after that, not sure of what to say in response to that.

"It's okay, Max," Hope said softly, trying to reassure him with smile again. Max looked at her for a second, and then returned the smile, though his seemed a bit sad. Wanting to change the subject after having gotten tired of all these memories coming to her of her past, however recent they were, she turned back to her chore as she asked, "So…how goes life without your own personal slave driver to hound you non-stop?"

This was her usual joke amongst her friends that hadn't been claimed by a specific Vampire yet, and Max knew this. He'd heard it numerous times already. She'd asked him this a few times, and he always replied in the same way: "A hell of a lot better than _yours_, Hope." Max laughed a bit. Hope looked at him briefly and then did the same after sticking out her tongue at him. Well, it _was_ true, technically!

Just then, a commotion could be heard from upstairs. Voices yelling, people shuffling around, a scream followed by the crisp _clang_ of something metal hitting flesh…or bone, depending on how one chooses to interpret the sound. Hope's eyes went wide as she listened to this, having instantly recognized all three voices. After the _clang_, she gasped and immediately took off for the hallway that would take her to the entrance foyer, where she could ascend the stairs to get to the problem.

"Hope!" Max called as she ran off, concerned as well as confused. "What is it?!"

"Anora! Lady Exondria!" was all he had time to hear before the girl disappeared around the corner and was gone.

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Author: Dun dun dun! Cliffhanger! Sorry if you think the chapter's a bit short. I couldn't think of much to put before ending it.

Random Excited Fan: What happened?! What happened?!

Author: You'll have to wait for the next chapter and find out.

Random Excited Fan: Is that why none of them are here right now?

Author: _(Nods)_ Pretty much. Yep!

Max: _(With a look of shock on his face)_ I am still so confused…

Author: Not to worry, my dear little friend. All shall be revealed…next time!

Both: Awwwwwwwwww!

Author: Ah, quit whining! …Well, see ya next time, everyone!


	15. Chpt 15 Chaos and a Brother

**Chapter 15: Chaos and a Brother**

Hope ran up the stairs, her heart pounding, terrified at what she'd find. Dear God, what had Jessica done _this _time?

She made it to the top of the stairs and went straight to Exondria's room. She couldn't have cared less at the moment whether or not Jessica would be happy with her presence or lack of proper respect upon entry. All she cared about at that time was getting to her friends. She burst in the door, it, thankfully, being unlocked, and looked around with wide and fearful eyes at the scene laid out before her.

Anora was back up in a corner, looking scared out of her mind and looking about ready to burst into tears at any possible moment; Exondria was lying on the floor, unconscious, but thankfully not bleeding; and then, there was Jessica. The Vampire girl stood, glaring at Exondria, then Anora, and finally at Hope, a skillet gripped tightly in her hand. She looked back at the other two for a moment. Exondria was no threat to her at the moment, seeing as how she was out cold and the little girl in the corner wouldn't dare try anything, and so she decided to turn her attention, for the moment, on Hope.

Jessica grabbed Hope by the arm and yanked her roughly into the room, slamming the door closed again behind her, causing a slight gasp of surprise from the Lycan girl. Getting right up into the Lycan's face, the Vampire girl hissed in a deadly quiet, and yet also fierce, voice, "Forget this. You saw nothing. Do you understand me, slave?" Jessica gripped the skillet a bit more tightly and shook it just a tad in her hand, not even bothering to lift it up, as a sort of warning, all the while staring Hope directly in the eye and keeping a painful grip on her upper arm—pain to which Hope gave no reaction.

Hope looked at her for a second, then at Anora, who had begun to cry silently by then, and then finally at Exondria, still lying there, unconscious. A violent shake from the Vampire girl in front of her brought her attention back to Jessica with a slight wince and a twinge of pain in her upper arm. She then looked at the girl, her face suddenly going completely blank. She couldn't afford to show how angry she was at the moment and she certainly had no reason to show _fear_ to this _child_. She _wasn't_ afraid of Jessica, skillet or no. The girl's pathetic attempts at intimidation weren't going to work on her. After all, Hope was used to _Quintz's_ constant torture and intimidation.

"I said am I understood, bitch?!"

Another shake.

"Yes, My Lady," came the completely calm reply a second later.

"Good," Jessica said, satisfied for the moment, and let go of Hope's arms in a not-so-gentle manner. She then turned her glare to Anora, but didn't move. "And the same goes for you, too, freak. You saw nothing." Anora nodded, still crying silently with the occasional quiet sob. Satisfied, Jessica quietly left, checking the hallway before doing so.

Hope and Anora, then, suddenly rushed to Exondria's aid after a brief second of looking at each other from across the room in shock. They knelt down on either side of her, trying their best not to panic, but still unsure of what to do.

Jessica would get away with this, of course—it was too risky to tell anyone what really happened and that Jessica had attacked Exondria. What possible excuse could they use for what happened that wouldn't cause problems for them all, or at the very least, Kaden or Anora? It looked as though Jessica was in the clear. Eh, who knows? Maybe they'd get lucky and that would only be a temporary situation.

No one had been around at the time to hear it, save for those who didn't care about such things as fights going on within the mansion, less they find themselves right in front of it or something like that. Servina and the Death Dealers were well out of earshot, even for _them_—they were down in the basement meeting room for some reason that most were unaware of since the Death Dealers' affairs were no business of anyone else in the mansion. And the slaves could do nothing, even if they _had_ found out about it.

"What do we do?!"

"I don't know, Anora! I don't know! But try to stay calm! It'll be alright!" Hope took a few breaths to steady herself.

Just then, footsteps could be heard coming up the hall and the next second, Kaden came rushing in, having heard the commotion and pretty much guessed what had happened, more or less. His face went pale and his eyes wide as he saw Exondria lying there. "What…? What did she do…?!"

Anora and Hope gasped and jumped at the sudden noise of someone coming in, whipping their heads around to see who it was, startled. If it somehow were the wrong person, things could get bad in a hurry in a number of ways. Seeing Kaden their, they both let out relieved breaths and turned back to the unconscious Exondria.

"Jessica hit her in the head with a skillet. Where she got the thing and exactly why she did it, I'm not quite sure, though some of the things they were yelling about give me an idea," Anora explained, not even turning her eyes away from her friend and half-not realizing what she was even saying in all the chaos.

"Why, then?!"

Anora's eyes widened for just a second as she realized that, but then her face went back to normal as she said to Kaden behind her, "I'll tell ya later, okay, Kaden? But right now, please, help us get her on the bed and try to calm down. It'll be okay!"

Kaden, then, stepped up to them and, between the three of them, Exondria was lifted up and carefully and safely placed on her bed. Anora and Kaden made sure she was resting in a comfortable position and Hope stood there and thought for a moment, trying to think of the best possible way to handle the situation, and then got to it.

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After a while, the situation was almost completely under control. They took turns watching over Exondria while the others either took a break, attended to some duty elsewhere in the mansion or such, or went to get something else for Exondria. The young Vampire was hooked up to an IV to help her get her strength back and to help her heal sooner, a cool cloth covering her forehead as she lay unconscious on her bed.

At the moment, Hope had gone back to the Lycans' Quarters to find Max and reassure him that everything was alright (he'd been quite worried when she'd rushed off), leaving Anora to watch over Exondria, as far as she knew and Kaden who-knows-where.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Max asked her as she got up to head back to Exondria's room. At the moment, they were both sitting on Max's bed in the slave house and Hope had explained what she had seen to him.

"Yeah, the bruises from her hand are almost gone."

"That's not what I meant," Max said, standing up right after her and looking at her as he stood close. "I meant emotionally. You seem a wreck and that was quite an experience just then, it sounds like. I just don't want you getting too overly-stressed now, you know?" He laid a gentle hand on her shoulder.

Hope looked at Max and smiled at him sweetly, crossing her arm across her body and laying a soft hand on his. "Yeah. I'm fine, Max. Don't you worry about me now."

He returned the smile and said, "She'll be okay, Hope."

"I know she will."

Max then pulled Hope into a gentle hug, the Lycan girl gladly obliging and hugging him back. Glancing at her with a quick smile, he lifted her chin gently with his hand and briefly and softly kissed her, then smiled at her caringly, staring into her eyes. "I love you, Hope." He blushed and looked away a bit, embarrassed with this having been the first time he'd actually said it to her.

Hope smiled back at him and laid a soft hand on her cheek, gently making him look at her again. "I love you, too, Max," she reassured him, kissing him gently again. Then, after another few seconds or so of the hug and loving stairs, Hope broke from his arms slowly and headed towards the door. Pausing in the doorway, she looked back at her boyfriend. "I'll be back soon, okay?" she said quietly. Max nodded with a small smile.

Then, without another word, Hope disappeared from the room and headed back to the Draconis Mansion, back to Exondria, Anora, and Kaden.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

When Anora got upstairs, she was slightly surprised at what she found. Exondria was semi-conscious at the moment and Anora and Kaden were trying to help her. As she had been drawing closer to the room, she figured that the Vampire girl had regained some awareness of what was going on around her, however little that was, by the fact that her sensitive hearing picked up the sound of Kaden's voice, saying something along the lines of waking Anora up and explaining later or something like that. Then, Hope had reached the room just a few seconds or so later.

She walked into the room just in time to be taken aback just a bit at hearing Exondria ask Anora, "Hey… Who's the cute one…?" Hope stopped dead in her tracks in the doorway at that. (What a nice welcome!) Her eyes went a bit wide and she tried her best to hold back a laugh as she looked at Anora and Kaden, Anora's eyes going wide at the question as well and Kaden blushing like a beet, his face crimson red.

Hope leaned against the doorframe and watched, Anora having nodded to her that they had everything under control. "I'll get the IV going with a bit more," Anora said, mostly to Kaden, and then proceeded to begin setting that up.

Hope looked at Exondria and smiled, listening to her giggle as Kaden sat next to her on the bed and then brushed some hair off her cheek with a sigh. "Do you know who I am, Exondria?" he asked the Vampire girl softly, yet in a serious manner. Exondria shook her head at the question, then whimpered and grabbed Kaden's hand gently as she closed her eyes. Obviously, moving her head, or maybe even at all, caused her great pain at the moment. Hope didn't blame her. She, no doubt, had a killer headache by then.

Hope watched as Kaden then stood up and faced the bed and her, then leaned over and kissed Exondria's forehead. She had to hold back another laugh as Exondria smiled and giggled again. Wow, she was completely out of it, wasn't she? Hope wondered how Kaden must've felt about all this. …Oh no, she was never letting him live it down… She would just wait until later to bust him about it is all.

"She'll fall asleep with this large a dose, so you may want to watch her," Anora said, then, again mostly to Kaden. The blue- and black-haired Lycan girl then administered the extra IV and, within seconds, Exondria was out like a light again. Kaden sighed again as Exondria fell asleep again, probably a tad relieved, given the way she had just been. He ran his fingers through his hair to get his bangs out of his face a bit, looking a bit tired.

Hope, arms wrapped crossed purely for comfort, pushed herself up off of the wall and sauntered into the room, glancing at Exondria, at Anora, who smiled at her, knowing where she was about to go with this, and then at Kaden as she smiled mischievously. She walked up to him and then looked at him for a second, that smile staying on her face.

"Uh-oh… Yes, Hope?" Oh, he knew it was coming.

Yep! Sure enough…

"Way to go, 'Cute One'!" she teased him, patting his shoulder for a second and then just turning casually away from him and walked back over to Anora, who was, of course laughing. Hope, naturally, joined in on her laughter a few seconds later (typical!), much to the dismay of the brunette boy who just stood there and looked away in embarrassment, blushing like mad again.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Soon enough, Exondria had regained consciousness again and a little bit of strength. They needed to give her a lot of blood to help her recover and get back most of her senses and memory. Still, she needed to get something in her stomach and not just in her bloodstream. So, Anora brought her up a steak. (Author: Eh, just go with it!) And as Exondria ate the steak, Anora and Hope stayed with her to keep her company, during which time, they took the liberty of letting her know just what it was she's said about Kaden, just in case she didn't remember that—she probably didn't.

"I said WHAT?!"

Now that new blood had been introduced into her body, she was able to blush, which the young Vampire girl then did profusely as Hope went on to explain. "Yeah, and he's been avoiding us like the Plague since then. He insisted on watching over you after Jessie attacked you with that cast iron skillet."

This new piece of information made Exondria drop her fork and stand up instantly, causing quite a bit of noise as her fork banged on her plate and the table-stand was pushed away from her. Exondria's eyes were wide in shock. Was it really that hard to believe, given the situation? "Jessie did this?! What the hell?! Why?!"

Anora and Hope merely shrugged, not even knowing the answer themselves. To them, it was just another stupid Vamp jealousy issue. Their guess was that Jessica had, for whatever reason, become jealous of things that Exondria possessed which she herself did not. They were unsure of how much truth there was to this guess, but for the time being, it seemed as good a one as any.

And then, another pressing question arose along with the first one yet again. "But… Why? What happened to her?"

"We know Kaden knows why, but he fed the Servina another story." Exondria glanced briefly at Anora as she said this, looking as though she were attempting to make sense of what the other girl had just said. Anora and Hope pretty much guessed that Exondria was probably still a little on the disoriented side of things.

"I wanna talk to him," came the Vampire girl's reply as she set her fork on her plate in the proper manner to say that she was done eating. (Oy…those proper people and their etiquette…) "Where is he?" Anora and Hope glanced at each other for a moment, their faces pretty much stating without words that they didn't know.

"Well, he may be in his room in the slave house for once," Hope offered as a possible answer to Exondria's question, though it was obvious that neither girl knew the answer for sure at the moment.

"Apparently, Jessie had him in her room which is why he was rarely in the Lycans' Quarters," Anora added as she fixed her top.

This made Exondria twitch as she rose to her feet. She was dressed already, with Hope and Anora's help a bit ago, but still didn't look quite so well. Picking up a hairbrush, she proceeded to brush her hair a bit. She probably wanted to at least make herself look a little more presentable than she was at the time being. Having done that, Exondria then set down the brush and headed towards the door, the two Lycans standing up right behind her, intending to follow her out as usual.

As Exondria opened the door, she said, "Annie, go and have fun with Hope, ok?" Okay. A bit of an odd request for a couple of slaves during the nighttime hours, but okay. Yeah, Exondria was _definitely_ not completely herself yet. If she had been, she wouldn't have run into the man on the other side of the door as she tried to walk out of the room.

Exondria went crashing to the ground after running into the handsome young Vampire boy, then shook her head to shake off that sudden disorientation that had come to her again as a result. "F'ing Jesus Christ on a goddamned stick!" she yelled at God-only-knows what, "can I NOT run into things or be hit by them?!" That's when she looked up to see the Vampire boy, who happened to look quite a bit like his adoptive sister, Exondria, surprisingly enough.

The boy's pale blue eyes sparkled as she smiled at Exondria, his blue hair, only a shade or so lighter than Exondria's, framing his face a bit in a very charming manner. Exondria, who had been glaring at the person in front of her, immediately grinned at seeing him. "Fayt!" she cried as she hugged him in a happy, friendly way as usual. "How are you?" The boy, Fayt, laughed and returned the hug in almost the exact same way as his sister, though he had to lean forward just a little bit to do so, being the taller of the two.

"I'm wonderful and glad to see you up and kicking. Nice language by the way," he teased her as he poked her nose. Then, he looked around the room and his eyes fell on the two Lycan girls standing there with their mouths open in shock. They were still getting over the shock of someone else showing up, since things could've been far worse just then if it'd been almost anyone else. He then hugged Exondria again and whispered something in her ear. What it was, Hope couldn't tell. But, whatever it was, Exondria nodded in agreement to it, so it couldn't have been anything bad.

Fayt looked at Hope, then, and said, "Miss Hope? Max requested your help to help clean up the ballroom. He apparently got stuck with your punishment. Seems they want that room spotless for the ceremony."

At hearing this, both Hope _and_ Anora got up almost instantly and started out the door, Anora obviously intending to accompany her best friend as usual. They didn't get far, however, before Fayt laid a gentle hand on Anora's shoulder in order to stall her from leaving. "I need your help though, Miss Anora…" he said to her, making Hope and Exondria giggle quietly. They both knew what was meant by the boy's request. Yeah, he needed help, alright… (Anora: Hey!) …In a completely "innocent" and "professional" way, of course… (Anora: Thank you! …Wait a second; what's with the parentheses?!)

"I'll just be going then," Exondria said then and disappeared out of the room. They all bid her goodbye as she left.

Then, Anora turned her attention back to Fayt and nodded. "Alright…"

They both smiled at each other. "Great," Fayt said.

Hope smiled and pushed herself off of the wall she'd been leaning against. "Well, I'm just gonna get going then. See ya 'round, Annie."

"See ya, Hope."

"And Fayt?"

"Yes…?" Here it comes again!

"Try to keep some sense of sophistication this time, okay? Not like the last time that I accidentally walked in on something I still wish I had never seen… _Still_ scarred for life after _that_ little incident…"

"Good_bye_, Hope!" the young couple said in unison.

Hope laughed and took the hint. "Bye-bye, love birds," was all she said before waving to the both of them, exited the room, and proceeded to head downstairs and on to the ballroom, where Max was waiting for her, hearing a surprised "Hope!" from Fayt and Anora as she did so and smiled to herself at the reaction she'd gotten from them. Those two were so easy to do that sort of thing to…

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Well, there you have it—Chapter 15. This one was quite interesting to write, actually.

Exondria, Anora, and Hope: (Are all staring at me in shock)

What?

Anora: How on Earth do you do these things so shamelessly?

What? Telling stories or revealing peoples' "secret" love lives?

Exondria: The latter one!

It's a gift! (Cue big smile here)

Hope: Why I oughta… (Starts stepping towards me)

0.o Uh… (Begins backing away from her as she comes closer) …Well, I believe that's all the time I have for today! I'll update as soon as possible. Keep watching for the next chapter of Diary! It's gonna be a good one! Okay, until next time everyone! See ya! (Takes off running suddenly, the other three girls right behind me and the boys left to stair in shock at what has just happened)

(Cue screams and crashing noises here)


	16. Chpt 16 The Drinking Game

**Chapter 16: The Drinking Game**

Hope quietly snuck through the hallway and to the entrance of the ballroom. She was trying to sneak up on Max. Hopefully, he wouldn't catch her scent before she could get to him. She peered around the corner into the room. Max was facing the opposite direction. Good. Maybe this would work, then.

Trying her best not to laugh, Hope quickly and silently tip-toed into the room and up to her boyfriend. Then, she reached around and covered his eyes with her hands, having to stand a bit on her toes because of his height. Silently, she waited for a reaction.

Max smiled. Of course, he had known she was there the entire time. He had picked up on her scent, but he wasn't going to spoil it for her. "Hmm… Gee, I wonder who this could be…" He chuckled softly. She loved that sound and giggled in return. Then, Max gently took her hands and removed them from his face, turning to face her. He held her hands to him softly and smiled. "Could it possibly be Hope?"

"Maybe…" came Hope's reply, smiling shyly up at him and blushing a bit. He saw this and chuckled. She was so cute when she did that.

"Miss me?"

"You know it," came her reply.

Looking around to make sure no one was present and sniffing the air for scents, Max then smiled at Hope. Hope got the hint and blushed even more, looking away shyly. Then, her head was guided gently back to facing him by his gentle hand on her cheek. Max leaned over and kissed Hope on the lips sweetly and briefly. The girl's face went beet-red and she smiled. Max smiled back at her, his being calm and charming. He hugged Hope close to him. She gladly welcomed the embrace. She felt safe and warm in his arms. She smiled calmly, letting out a slow, deep breath in relaxation.

After a few moments of just staying like that, they finally broke the hug and just held each other's hands and just smiled at each other in silence, unable to think of anything to say to one another. Another moment later, and they had finally been snapped out of this trance when Hope said, "I think maybe we should get back to work…"

Max nodded. "I think that'd be a good idea…"

And so, they did. They chatted a bit as they did so, as always, though there wasn't all that much conversation to be had at the moment. There were moments of them being in there that an eerie silence filled the room, but they didn't usually tend to last very long. Any conversation about what had happened was kept very low.

"So…do you think she'll get away with it…?"

"I think so," Hope whispered back. "Kaden told Lady Servina a different story than what happened. I don't think we can risk anyone knowing what really happened…"

"That's completely not fair…"

"It may not be fair, but it's life…"

"You have a point…" Max sighed.

"God, I was so scared. For a moment, I thought that one of us was going to die. I don't know why. It was a silly thing to fear. I just…I know what Lady Jessica is capable of and I had no idea what she was going to do…" Hope raked a hand through her hair a bit, which wasn't all that easy, considering how thick and curly her hair was.

"I'm just glad that everyone's alright…" Max laid a gentle hand on her shoulder to comfort her a bit.

Hope looked at him and smiled back. "Yeah, me too."

Then, a gradually strengthening scent caught her attention. Hope gasped quietly and quickly removed Max's hand from her shoulder, then turned and kept up with her sweeping. "Lady Quintz…" was all she had to say for Max to understand and turn to his work silently as well, catching her scent then as well. Another scent mixed with her usual one, but Max couldn't yet put his finger on it. What was it?

_Oh dear God… _Hope thought to herself as she worked, closing her eyes to steady her breathing. She knew the scent all too well and had picked up on what it was way before Max did. _She's been drinking again…_

She was afraid. Things always got bad when her mistress was drunk. Quintz loved nothing more than to torment her slave when she was. Well, yes, she loved to do that _anyway_, but it was always worse for Hope whenever alcohol had been involved. Even when she was merely tipsy, things could get out of hand. It was better than her just being flat-out drunk, but it was still bad.

Hope let out a silent, deep breath and opened her eyes again as she heard footsteps come through the entrance to the room behind her. She paused for only a second, and then kept cleaning. It was Quintz. Hope glanced over to Max. He just kept on with what he was doing, trying to play it cool as she was. She saw the look in his eyes, though. He was worried—most likely for her.

The sound of Quintz's footsteps came closer. They didn't have the same rhythm as they usually did, though it wasn't off by too much. She was staggering a bit. A chuckle could be heard a mere few feet away from the two Lycans. "Hope…" Quintz addressed her slave in a mocking sing-song voice. "Sweetheart, why don't you just turn around and talk to your Mistress now. Turn and have a nice little conversation with Lady Quintz." Quintz's words slurred just the tiniest bit. Even without facing her, Hope got a grip on just how bad off she was and how much danger might be involved here. She wasn't completely drunk—just tipsy. Well, at least it wasn't quite as bad… It didn't exactly help her all _that_ much, though.

Trying to keep her breathing normal, Hope set down the broom and did as she was commanded. She turned to face her mistress and bowed low to the Vampire. Max did the same, knowing how close by she was and what the proper etiquette for a slave was around the mansion, though he didn't lower himself quite as much as she had. She was kneeling before her mistress. Max wasn't required to do so quite as much simply for the facts that he didn't belong to Quintz and because the Vampire had addressed Hope, not him. His fear was beginning to rise as well. He didn't quite know just how she was when drunk—though everyone _had_ heard stories—but he sensed that something was wrong.

Quintz glanced at him briefly, the chilling smile she had been wearing turning to a stern gaze of smug superiority for the moment. "Boy," she said to Max, her voice intimidating even in the mock-pleasant tone she was using at the time, "leave us. I wish so speak to my slave in private. Just go and clean something in another room for a bit, if you will…" That stern gaze of hers then turned back into that chilling smile that everyone—Hope, especially—knew so well.

Max quickly looked up at her and then back down at the ground and opened his mouth a bit, seeming about to protest. But he then thought better of it and closed his mouth and paused for a moment, unsure of what to do. He looked over to Hope quickly. She had an expression on her face as if to say "Don't argue. Just go", shaking her head discreetly behind Quintz to try and tell him not to refuse.

Quintz's smiled fell again and she snapped at him, "I said leave us!" She took a step towards Max and raised her hand as though to backhand him, hissing at him as she bared her fangs. Hope gasped, her eyes wide, fearing for her boyfriend.

Max jumped a bit and backed up a few steps, quietly dropping the dust rag in his hands. "Yes, My Lady," he said, bowing. "My apologies for being so slow about it." The Lycan boy bowed to the Vampire again and left the room quickly and quietly after Quintz nodded and shooed him with her hand. Quintz chuckled as she watched him leave, amused with how he'd reacted to her after she'd gotten his attention by raising her voice to him. She was satisfied with how she'd handled him. Then, the Vampire turned her attention back to Hope, her slave, smiling at the still-kneeling girl as before.

Hope dared not move or speak unless prompted. She stayed still and waited for whatever Quintz was going to do nervously. She didn't have to wait long…

"So… Hope, darling, how are you this evening?"

Hope had to steel herself for a second to hold back a shiver. God, she hated it when Quintz used that voice and such. It never ended well for her. "I am doing well, Lady Quintz. How are you this evening?"

"Oh, I'm just peachy. I'm feeling very nice at the moment actually." Quintz giggled slightly in a drunken manner. She then looked at Hope for a second and then said, "Stand up, dear, so I can see that pretty little face of yours."

Hope did as was demanded of her. She stood, though her posture was still diminished and her gaze to the floor, naturally. Quintz had ordered her to stand; that didn't give her permission to pretend herself equal to the Vampire. _Her words are still a little slurred. Stupid drunken Vampire bitch…_

"That's a good girl," Quintz said as her slave rose to her feet. She reached out a hand and gently placed a hand on the girl's cheek—Hope having to work hard not to flinch. "There's that lovely little face…" Quintz patted Hope's cheek, a little harder than she'd touched it but not enough to hurt at all or even sting. Then, she dropped her hand and stared Hope down in silence for a moment—a long, torturous moment for Hope.

A moment later, and the woman giggled and crossed her arms, the paused for a second, staring at her, before finally speaking. "Hope? …Hop on one foot…"

_Oh geez, I hate this game…_ Knowing this routine all too well, Hope did as instructed, not letting her irritation show—doing only a mental eye-roll, as opposed to a physical one. This was Quintz's version of the drinking game, in a way, and it was one of Hope's least favorite forms of torture—though it didn't quite make the top of the list, knowing how bad Quintz could get if she really wanted to.

"Good girl. Now spin around a few times until I tell you to stop."

Again, Hope did as she was told. Only a few more instructions to go before the big one. Although each second that passed by only made her more and more nervous for the last one. She just wanted to get to it and have it be done and over with for this time, as she usually wanted. The other instructions were simply there for torture and humiliation—she knew that very well by then.

Quintz chuckled in satisfaction and told her she could stop. Her slave did, slightly dizzy now because of the spinning.

Hope discreetly searched Quintz with her eyes for any weapons she had on her whilst awaiting the next order—preferably for the silver whip. It wasn't there, and neither was anything else, as far as she could tell. The Vampire didn't even have her guns on her—thank God! She probably wouldn't shoot Hope, but you could never be too careful with Quintz, considering how unpredictable the woman could be. A closer look, though, revealed that Quintz _did_ have her dagger on her, tucked away in her boot as usual. Hope would have to watch out for that, probably. Again, her mistress probably wouldn't stab her, but one can never be absolutely sure.

"Do a little jig for me, darling."

Hope did so, trying to keep herself from blushing in a futile attempt to at least maintain _some_ dignity. She then took in a deep breath. Just one more before the last order…

Another chuckle. "Bark like the little mangy little mutt you are…"

Hope let out that breath slowly and did as she was told. Here it comes…

"That's my good little girl, Hope. What a good dog you are. And now…" All at once, Quintz smile dropped, her gaze instantly becoming unmerciful. It sent a chill down Hope's spine as she tried her best to steel herself for the inevitable. Quintz's voice was a low hiss through clenched teeth as she finished her sentence, "play dead, Puppy!"

In the next instant, Hope was on the ground, Quintz having thrown her facedown forcefully by her arm. Hope knew what "play dead" meant. The only thing she was permitted to do was cover her head to protect it. She wasn't allowed to curl up, to scream, to cry out, to sob or cry audibly, to flinch—pretty much to even so much as utter one sound or move one inch as the blows began to rain down upon her. All she could do was just lie there silently and take it as Quintz beat her.

She hadn't always perfected this game. Hope prayed that she wouldn't do anything outside of what Quintz expected of her at the moment, and tried her best not to. The slightest gasp or flinch could cause even more punishment. She hid her face as best she could, burying it under her arms. If the woman saw her crying, Hope's face would then be a liable target for her.

Hope kept her hands clenched into tight fists and bit her lip hard enough to draw blood, trying to withstand the punches, slaps, and kicks. It hurt so badly, especially when she, a few times, felt a knife cut shallowly into her skin but never once stab her, but she had to take it. There was nothing she could do without making things worse for herself. She tried her best to just breathe in and out deeply and maybe, if she were lucky, to just sort of lose herself. She'd accomplished this a few times before. She could sometimes just close her eyes and after a while, she disconnected herself to the pain and just blocked everything out—luckily, she managed this time, after a while.

This only went on for a few minutes. Then, it stopped. Hope knew better than to move unless instructed, so she just laid there and awaited Quintz's instructions. She could hear the Vampire breathing a bit heavily above her, circling the girl lying at her feet a few times, never once taking her eyes off of Hope. Hope could feel her mistress's gaze boring into her. "Get up." And then, without even having had enough time to react to the order, she was hauled to her feet by a vice grip on her arm.

Hope stumbled slightly. It was always hard to even stand after one of Quintz's beatings. Her entire body screamed in pain, though she could not. She couldn't tell just what kind of condition she was in yet, really. Her knees shook under her and threatened to buckle, but she couldn't afford that.

The only visible part of her body that wasn't bruised or bleeding at the moment was her face, though that was remedied a little as Quintz hit her in the face a few times "just for good measure", though the only real result of that impulse was a bruise above the Lycan girl's left eye and a cut on the right side of her bottom lip which bled a little.

Satisfied with herself, Quintz's smile returned. "Thank you for cooperating so well with me this evening, Hope. I always just love playing this little game with you," she mocked her slave. That was all she said before patting the girl's cheek again, turning around, and walking out of the room with another low chuckle, leaving her slave there alone, battered and bleeding with no idea or care as to the extent of the girl's injuries.

Hope waited there silently, her head bowed, until her mistress was out of earshot. When she was sure it was safe to do so, she quietly cleaned up what bit of her blood had been spilt on the floor and then left the room herself, taking a back way through the mansion garden to get to the slaves' quarters. She barely made it because of the pain, and when she finally reached the Lycan House, she was very relieved, in a way.

As soon as she walked in the door, she found Max waiting anxiously in the small entrance foyer for her. He looked up automatically at noticing her come in, and upon seeing her condition, he jumped to his feet, his eyes wide. "Oh my God…" The few Lycans that were in the room looked as well, looking almost as shocked as he was at seeing just how bad off she was.

There was a pause, and the Hope could hold on no longer. She collapsed right then and there, falling to the floor and into unconsciousness. All she could hear before she blacked out completely was the sounds of a few pairs of footsteps rushing towards her and a few faint voices calling to her and speaking, one in particular—Max's—sticking out at her clearly. Everything sounded so faint and far away, and then…nothing. She was out.

"Hope!"

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Author: Well, there's Chapter 16 for you…

Hope: Ow that hurt…

Annie: 0.o Gee, I wonder why…

Exondria: 0.o Holy crap!

Author: I'll get Chapter 17 done and up as soon as I can!

Hope: The next one won't hurt as much, will it…?

Author: Nope! On the contrary, I think you should really like this next one. (Wink wink)

Hope: (Smiles a bit, getting the hint)

Exondria: 0.o Holy crap!

Annie: Um…you okay there, Exondria?

Exondria: 0.o …Holy crap!

(All three of the others look at each other for a second)

Hope: Okay…

Max: Hey, at least _you_ weren't the one to have to carry her back to her room! The girl's heavier than she looks!

Hope: Hey!

Exondria: True. Very true…

Hope: (Glares) I know where you two sleep during the day…

Exondria: Yeah, in the mansion where you can't get to me! .

Max: Yeah, Hope, and you _should_ know _very_ well where I—(Gets his mouth covered instantly by Hope's hand)

Hope: Shut up!

Annie: (Gasps) I knew it!

Exondria: Ha! Busted!

Author: (Sweatdrops) -.-' Wow…Yeah, so anyway, like I said, Chapter 17 coming up as soon as I can get it! Please R&R everyone! Until next time! See ya! (Watches as Annie and Exondria continue to pester Hope, who is, of course, receiving no help from Max)

Hope: Thanks a _lot_, Max!

Max: You're welcome! .

Hope: (Growls)

Annie and Exondria: Oh Hooooooooooope!

Hope: (Heavy sigh)


End file.
